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ELGIN — Adult education has been “kind of wrong all along” in its traditional approach to learning, according to Peggy Heinrich, dean of adult education at Elgin Community College.

Historically, the idea behind adult education was to ”go through the levels” — earning a GED (that is, passing the General Education Development test) or gaining English as a Second Language proficiency before moving on to higher-level courses, Heinrich said.

As a result, she said, only 3 percent of adult students ever complete a degree.

That could change at ECC, thanks to some outside funding help.

ECC is one of eight community colleges in Illinois to receive grant money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other leading philanthropies to help adult students complete post-secondary education and training.

That money is part of a $1.6 million grant from Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative, supported by the Gates, Joyce, W.K. Kellogg, Kresge and Open Society foundations. That’s according to the Illinois Community College Board, which was awarded the three-year grant earlier this month by Jobs for the Future.

Breaking Through initiatives are co-managed by Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education.

ECC officials are not sure exactly how much money the college will see over the next three years, Heinrich said. Whatever is received will be used to expand a program to help adult students earn vocational certificates in a program ECC piloted last spring.

“For me, it’s the most exciting thing I’ve seen in adult education since I’ve been here,” she said.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Among them: Newspaper reporter (me) and real estate agent (my husband). I prefer to think of my husband and myself as just very retro.

ELGIN — When North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s death was announced Dec. 19, the Elgin-headquartered Church of the Brethren was worried.

That’s because the church supports Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea’s capital and largest city, the only private university in the country. And that includes supporting several volunteer teachers at the university, who were set to return to the United States at the end of the semester last week.

“We were a little worried whether there would be a mass exodus at the airport,” said Howard Royer, manager of the church’s Global Food Crisis Fund.

But, he added, “They got out without a hassle. They came out on the normal schedule.”

And those volunteers, Church of the Brethren members Robert and Linda Shank, came with little insight into what will become of North Korea after the death of its “dear leader.”

“The main thing they observed was a lot of tearful eyes,” Royer said.

“That’s about all they observed. Everybody looked tearful — eyes red. From what I’ve read, that’s almost a requirement. You’ve got to be mournful of the dear leader’s passing.”

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

ELGIN — Warren Krup of Elgin was inspired to donate blood by a co-worker who, despite a disability, reached the 10-gallon donation mark.

That was more than 21 years and, for Krup, exactly 200 blood donations ago.

Krup was recognized for his 200th blood donation when he gave platelets Wednesday afternoon at the Heartland Blood Center at 1140 N. McLean Blvd.

“I get to sit and take a break, and it saves a life. Why wouldn’t you want to do that?” he said.

Heartland Blood Centers CEO Dennis Mestrich and COO Kevin Konrad presented the 52-year-old donor with a Golden Heart Award certificate recognizing the donation, along with a new gold plate to add to a wooden plaque in his honor: “25 gallons.” He pried off the “20 gallon” plate with a pocket knife and taped it to the back of his plaque with the other milestones: three, four, five, six, 10 and 15 gallons.

And about a dozen family members and friends from Grace Evangelical Church in Elgin turned out to support Krup — some, even to donate themselves.

“We’re proud of him,” Grace Pastor Dan Bohyer said. “He does a lot of really generous things for people, and this is really just another example of that.”

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo: Dave Shields for Sun-Times Media

WEST DUNDEE — Brandon Rohlwing was Googling “ways to end it all” when he stumbled across ReachOut.com.

The 17-year-old was “feeling really low and had suicidal thoughts,” he said. Figuring out who you are, fitting into high school cliques — it’s “a lot to go through, and it’s something nobody should have to go through alone,” he said.

“That’s when you’ll start feeling down.”

ReachOut offered help to “get through the tough times,” according to the website’s home page. He spent hours reading the advice and the real stories from other teenagers and young adults on the site.

And, Brandon said, “It really helped me get the courage to tell my parents what I’d been feeling so I could get help.”

Once he got that help from a doctor and counselor and was “back on my own two feet,” he said, he contacted the Inspire USA Foundation, which runs ReachOut, to thank them and ask if there was any way he could give back.

In March, he was invited to be one of about 15 students on the foundation’s ReachOut Council, he said. Since then, he has worked more than 250 hours as a volunteer creating material for the website, its blog and its social media profiles to help others struggling through tough times.

That work with ReachOut is why Brandon’s fellow Dundee-Crown High School senior Edyta Pietrowska nominated him in the second Good Deed Dollars contest, sponsored by Community Unit School District 300, Inland Real Estate Corp. and the Algonquin Commons shopping center.

The contest rewards middle and high school students in the Carpentersville-area school district for their “exceptionally selfless good deeds,” according to a statement from District 300.

Brandon was out sick the day the six contest winners were announced earlier this month in Community District 300. The Dundee-Crown senior found the half-deflated balloons and oversized $500 check in Principal Lynn McCarthy’s office the next day at the Carpentersville school, he said.

“I’m perfectly satisfied just getting an email saying, ‘You saved my life tonight,’” Brandon said. “To know that my friends recognize it and they’re proud of me, too — it’s awesome.”

Doing good deeds

Good Deed Dollars contest winners are nominated in letters or videos from their peers. The top three finishers in both middle and high school were recognized at the December school board meeting and received $500 gift cards to Algonquin Commons.

“It was tremendously inspiring to read all of the nominations and learn about all the wonderful and inspiring things D300 students are doing to help the community and make the world a better place,” said Beth Hicks, assistant vice president and director of marketing for Inland, in a written statement.

“We’re happy that we are able to give a little bit back to these amazing students through the Good Deed Dollars contest.”

True to form, Brandon said he plans to use his $500 gift card to give back as well: He plans to buy a digital SLR camera “to work on stuff for ReachOut.”

That drive to give back is something he said he picked up from his parents, Todd and Susan Rohlwing.

“My dad is a state police officer. He’s always enforcing service before self. We’ve always done stuff around Christmastime, giving gifts and ringing the bells,” Brandon said.

“It’s a value my family instilled in me, and I got very passionate about — I do it all the time now.”

Susan Rohlwing began volunteering in District 300 about 13 years ago and now is a special education administrator at Dundee-Crown, she said. Todd Rohlwing is a lieutenant in Illinois State Police District 2, Elgin.

The two brought the state police toy giveaway — something the troopers have done for years in Chicago with a grant from Walmart — to District 300 last year, Todd Rohlwing said. This year, 38 state troopers brought 997 toys to students at Meadowdale Elementary School in Carpentersville, according to an email the lieutenant sent to the troopers who participated.

“As cops, we see so much bad,” Todd Rohlwing said. “This reinvigorates your faith in the world. That’s the bottom line in volunteering.”

And, he said, that volunteerism isn’t “just at the holidays — it’s year-round.”

Finding your passion

Todd and Susan Rohlwing also have helped coach their children’s sports teams and lead the youth group at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake. They’re passionate about helping kids, Todd Rohlwing said.

“You’ve got to find your passion. Maybe it’s helping elderly people or at the hospitals with the sick,” he said. “If you don’t find your passion, the volunteering thing will go quick.”

Their oldest daughter, Elizabeth, just graduated in May from Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy in Chicago.

The 21-year-old filmed a public service announcement in District 300 schools about bullying, Susan Rohlwing said.

Brandon found his passion in working with teenagers going through tough times. In addition to ReachOut, he also is involved with National Honor Society, Rotary Interact and Big Brothers Big Sisters through Dundee-Crown.

In an average high school class of 30 students, he said, an Inspire USA study found eight have experienced depression, and two have attempted suicide — “a silent holocaust.”

In his posts on the ReachOut Blog, Brandon has encouraged others “it’s never too late to rid yourself of regrets” after the death of a classmate. He’s written about feeling different at a very young age, “inverting” his personality to fit in and finally realizing “you can be gay and still be accepted by people that matter and be happy.”

And he’s found his passion, he said.

“I wanted to help teens get through what I did and let them know things will get better and it’ll make them a stronger person,” Brandon said.

For more information about the Inspire USA Foundation, or for help getting through tough times, visit ReachOut.com.

Copyright 2011, Sun-Times Media. All rights reserved.

For the original story, and a photo gallery of the Rohlwing family and Meadowdale giveaway, visit The Courier-News.

Photo: Dave Shields for Sun-Times Media

It’s a done deal.

ELGIN — The third time was the charm for Angelica Lemus Hendrickson of Gilberts — the third time she was laid off, that is.

Hendrickson had more than 20 years of office experience — in insurance, in banking and in mortgages — when she was laid off for the third time in April last year, she said.

Honestly, though, she said, “Working in the corporate world was so stressful. I was not happy.”

One of the bright spots in Hendrickson’s work day was helping out co-workers who looked unhappy or who, she noticed, rubbed their necks in pain. She’d offer to rub their shoulders, she said.

People never complained, she said. In fact, they often asked to meet up on lunch breaks for back rubs — or hinted she had missed her calling, she said.

So, she said, “Third time’s a charm. After the third time I got laid off, it’s time for me to be me. It’s time for me to be happy and so something I’m passionate about.”

Hendrickson now is one of 705 students who were candidates for commencement at the end of the fall semester from Elgin Community College — she with a certificate in massage therapy, naturally. The semester ended Friday.

That’s a slight dip from last fall, when 275 students graduated from the college with university transfer degrees and 539 with certificates, according to Kristophere’ Owens, a spokesman for Elgin Community College. A total 1,320 graduated from the college in May: 568 with university transfer degrees and 751 with certificates, he said.

The community college does not yet have official graduate numbers for the just-ended fall semester, as final grades are not due until Monday, Owens said.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo: Dave Shields for Sun-Times Media.