About Austin Polytech
| Austin Polytechnical Academy is an engineering- and manufacturing-focused and college prep public high school on Chicago's West Side.
Thanks to over 60 partner companies, our students learn about the many different career opportunities in manufacturing through field trips, guest speaker visits, job shadowing opportunities, internships, and more.
Austin Polytech is a project of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council. Our career program is operated by the Center for Labor and Community Research.
Learn more at austinpolytech.org
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Join our Newsletter List
| Sign up to receive e-mail updates from Austin Polytechnical Academy, including our monthly newsletter Tech Talk. You may also opt to receive updates from the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council.
We will never share or sell your personal information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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Support our Students
| It takes more than a traditional high school budget to help our students engineer their future.
We need to invest in our world class machine shop, college- and career-prep program, and work-based projects and activities.
For example, APA has a SkillsUSA chapter in which students meet weekly to work on school and community leadership projects, attend regional and state conferences and participate in job skill competitions.
Please help by sending us a check, payable to the Center for Labor and
Community Research, at 3411 West Diversey, Suite 10, Chicago, Illinois 60647.
You can also contribute online securely through PayPal by clicking below:
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| Career Program | The career program at Austin Polytech is operated by the not-for-profit Center for Labor and Community Research.
If you have any questions, please call our office at (773) 534-6326 or visit us in Room 140. |
| Contact | |
Austin Polytechnical Academy
231 N. Pine Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60644
Main Office: (773) 534-6301
Career Services: (773) 534-6326
Fax: (773) 534-6046
austinpolytech.org |
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Junior Job Shadow Day a Success!
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Trevon Dotson and Marla Sanders spent the day at American Grinding.
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On March 16, 2011, 35 APA Juniors participated in a job shadow day. Students had the opportunity to see what they learn in class in action while visiting some of APA's dedicated partners. Students began their day with a tour of the facilities and then spent the remainder shadowing employees in different areas of expertise.
 | | Tyyanni Smith spent her job shadow at DeCardy Diecasting. |
Students were able to see every aspect of manufacturing from design, marketing, production, and quality control. Kadedra Murph who attended Alion was excited to see a production process in motion, "The best part of my job shadow is that we were able to see the batching process, we got to see how the process came together. We got to see how they make liquid glass." Thirty-three of the thirty five students that participated in the job shadow day already had NIMS credentials. For these students it was an extra treat to already be familiar with some of machines on the production floor.
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Mark Harris and Michelle Hudson sent the day at Freedman Seating.
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Mark Harris, who attended Freedman Seating, enjoyed seeing how integral computers were to manufacturing," We got to see how they were making seats with machines putting them together. I got the chance to design a part in the computer." The job shadow day was an astounding success both for our students and partners. It was another demonstration of APA is preparing our students to be future leaders of industry.
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Jafar James, Jeralmiah Garmon, Shantel Manning spent their day at Overton Gear.
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Special thanks to: CPS's Career and Technical Education Dept., Alion Science & Technology, Allied Metals, American Grinding, Bearse USA, C. Cretors Co., DeCardy Diecasting, Freedman Seating, Hudson Precision Co., Labelmaster, Laystrom Manufacturing, Overton Gear, Plymouth Tube Co., Temple Steel Co., WaterSaver Faucet, Winzeler Gear, Wrightwood Precision, Unique Active.
Click here for more photos
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Making Connections: Machine Shop & AP Calculus
By Steve McIlrath, APA Math Teacher
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Recently Mr. Varela from the Machine Shop teamed up with the Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus class, helping bring to life the idea of rotating volumes around a fixed axis. The AP Calculus students just finished a unit on finding volumes of solids using integration techniques. With machining tools located in APA's very own Manufacturing Technology Center, a piece of solid steel stock was fashioned into a complex shape with one end hollowed out. The Calculus students were presented with the metal solid, a dial caliper, and the density of steel. Their task is to use their knowledge of Calculus to predict the weight of the solid steel object as accurately as possible.
 | | Brittany Trotter and Nicole Thorp try to predict the weight of the object. |
The students were allowed to work together as a class to solve the problem, but were not permitted to ask for any help from the instructor. After 2 days of measuring, drawing, curve-fitting, and integrating, they were ready to test their answers on the scales of truth.
In the end, the Calculus students were 67 grams off from the actual weight of 1,840 grams. That's a 3.6% margin of error - not quite industry standard yet, but certainly a fantastic approximation given the tools with which they had to work. Most importantly though, the project highlighted the polytechnical nature of who we are striving to be as a school. There just aren't many high schools in the country that are as equipped to expose students to such a rich blend of theoretical and practical rigor as we are at APA.
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APA Welcomes Atlas Tool and Die
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Bill Vogel welcomes Zach Mottl of Atlas Tool and Die as the newest APA Partner. Mr. Mottl toured the Manufacturing Technology Center and observed our students studying the CNC Horizontal Lathe and to prepare for the CNC Operator NIMS Credential exam. Helping Mr. Vogel welcome Mr. Mottl are: Allanta Hudson, Deshawn Hunter, Iking Canavy, Andrew Brown.
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