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By Corina Curry

September 19. 2013 12:01AM

Rockford students explore career opportunities at Academy Expo

PHOTO/ MAX GERSH | RRSTAR.COM

Rockford Register Star Managing Editor

Anna Derocher (right) listens as Michelle

Williams answers questions from a group

of students Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013,

during the Alignment Rockford Academy

Expo at the BMO Harris Bank Center in

Rockford.

ROCKFORD — Thousands of high school students got a glimpse of the future Wednesday as they interacted with community and business leaders at the 2013

Alignment Rockford Academy Expo.

ROCKFORD — Thousands of high school students got a glimpse of the future Wednesday as they interacted with

community and business leaders at the 2013 Alignment Rockford Academy Expo.

It was the second year for the expo, which drew more than 5,000 Rockford high school students and 150 Rock River

Valley employers.

Students from Rockford’s four public high schools and Roosevelt Community Education Center spent the morning

wandering the floor of the BMO Harris Bank Center, looking for a career based on personal interests. Employers were

there to help students make the connection from their interests to the working world.

They did it with motorcycles, heavy machinery, interactive games, antique cars, flight simulators, celebrity guests and

other hands-on demonstrations — all with the goal of helping young people figure out what they want to do after they

graduate from high school.

“This is what alignment looks like,” said Judy Gustafson, a College and Career Academy Coach at Jefferson High

School. “This is what it looks like when the community supports the schools, and we create a partnership in the best

interests of kids.”

The annual Academy Expo gets students like East junior Debora St. Fleurose excited about her future. She’s interested in a career in the media.

“(The expo) is teaching me different careers I could try,” St. Fleurose said. “Just today, I learned new information about the careers I might want to enter.”

As a bonus, St. Fleurose got to meet the Grammy-award winning recording artist Michelle Williams, a 1997 Auburn High School graduate, and ask her a

question as part of a mock press conference at the Rockford Register Star booth.

The booth also featured retired NFL football player Sean Considine, a 2000 Byron High School graduate.

“That was a surprise,” she said. “I didn’t expect that. ... I got to ask Michelle Williams what she was like when she attended Auburn. That was neat.”

The Rockford Fire Department hosted a steady stream of curious teenagers at its booth. Firefighters enticed students with fire-fighting gear and tools, the Jaws

of Life and emergency medical supplies.

“It’s nice to help students understand what the fire department really is,” Chad Moe, a fire department inspector, said. “It’s so much more than just putting out

fires. We run the ambulances. We do water rescues. We do hazardous materials. We do technical rescues. They are a lot of opportunities to specialize in one of

these areas.”

Corina Curry: 815-987-1371; ccurry@rrstar.com; @corinacurry

http://www.rrstar.com/article/20130919/NEWS/309199883

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