WHAT IS REACH

REACH is a vocational training program for CHSD 218 students.  Due to the growing needs of the students and employers in our community, CHSD 218 has developed off-site vocational training programs:  Moraine On-Site Training Program (MOST) at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, DoubleTree Hotel, and Anixter, both located in Alsip.  The training sites have opened up great opportunities for CHSD 218 student giving them the opportunity to train for future jobs while in high school.  These programs also offer employers the opportunity to employ students in the community who have been trained to become successful employees.

Students participate in these vocational programs as part of their school day, both during and after school.  Students are rewarded for their hard work each quarter—based on their work performance, attendance, and skill building successes.  Their ultimate reward is securing successful employment!

OUR PROGRAMS

REACH includes MOST, DoubleTree Hotel and Anixter.  The CHSD 218 students have a great opportunity to train for future jobs while in high school to assist them in their transition to the world of work.

MOST, Moraine On-Site Training Program, began in the fall of 2000 as a collaborative job training program with CHSD 218 and Moraine Valley Community College (MVCC) in Palos Hills.  Students, typically 16 and 17 year olds are accepted into the program to learn skills that transfer to any job; skills such as:  greeting customers and co-workers, making appropriate on-the-job conversation, providing customers and employers good eye contact, taking pride in their work, taking initiative, taking responsibility for finishing tasks, as well as job specific skills in one of the ten available departments at MVCC.  A big part of MOST is setting and meeting goals.  Students work on several goals at a time and are evaluated daily by CHSD 218 job coaches.

DoubleTree Hotel, in Alsip on 127th Street, offers training in banquets, kitchen, maintenance, and laundry departments.  Students who are  16 and older  train during and after school hours.  Students at this level are working on specific job skills. The purpose of this training program is to prepare students for employment in the hotel industry.

Anixter Inc., a fortune 500 company which currently employs over 500 people, is located in Alsip.  This training program offers students the opportunity to train in a warehouse facility.  The students learn to “pick” orders using warehousing technology and may also learn skills in additional departments such as aggregation, picking and shipping and receiving.  The goal of this program is to gain prepare students for work in the warehousing industry.

When a student is deemed job-ready by the program, one of three things happen: the student finds their own job; a job developer assists the student to secure community employment; or the student may continue training at one of CHSD 218’s training programs.