A New View of Tech School And a Drive to Succeed
Buzzing with excitement, 72 11th graders sat in the auditorium of Austin Polytechnical Academy recently, waiting to board buses that would take them to the International Manufacturing Technology Show at McCormick Place, the largest show of its kind in the United States.
Carrying clipboards and dressed sharply in khakis and red polo shirts, they listened to Bill Vogal, a school administrator and former factory owner, as he read the questions they were assigned to ask exhibitors about their products and services: “What kind of lubricant do Index machines use?” “How many inserts does it take to make an airplane?” Mr. Vogal hollered over the chatter.
For some of the students, the show would be the first encounter with a globalized industry that many of them hope to enter after graduation.
The academy, which is located in the struggling Austin neighborhood, is the city’s first and only career academy dedicated to occupations in high-skill manufacturing. Dan Swinney, chairman of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, founded it in 2007 as a Chicago Public Schools “performance school.” Austin Polytech’s mission is to redefine vocational education and revive the city’s manufacturing industry by educating the next