A select group of students in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60’s five middle schools may have the opportunity to become exposed to college and career prospects rather than waiting until high school, when it is a regular part of the program.
Amanda Nault, the district’s assistant director of teaching and learning, said a program named Earth Angels from the Atlanta area-based Retnuh Agency is under consideration as a pilot program for 100 district middle school students and their parents.
“They’ll learn about post-secondary education — both two- and four-year colleges — trade schools and the military,” Nault said Wednesday. “They’ll learn about scholarships and grants. There will be field trips for students and the parents.”
Members of the District 60 Board of Education got their first glimpse of Earth Angels during a meeting of the Student Achievement Committee on Tuesday at the Education Service Center in Waukegan to evaluate the program.
A vote is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 27 during the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Evonda Fulton, the district’s college and career readiness coordinator, said at the meeting that students will learn from people in the community and beyond who are experts in their field. They may be local, but look at the world beyond their locale.
“These people think globally, and we want our students to experience that and see a homegrown person who has experienced that,” Fulton said. “We want to bring post-secondary college and career readiness for our kids to see people who look like them and came from this community.”
Along with putting students on a college and career path sooner, Destani Boyd, a college and career readiness manager for the district, said the pilot program will help students to get a better idea of what to expect when they get to high school, as well as meet peers who will be there.
“It gives them a little bit of background, a little bit of leeway once they get to high school,” Boyd said. “It shows them what a conference is like, what a seminar looks like. It shows them what kinds of choices they’ll be presented with, and what kind of doors can be opened.”
Board member Carolina Fabian said she likes the idea of the program, but has concerns that it might just last half a year, not be renewed and the students never receive the full benefit of the plan. She wants to see a three-year contract so sixth graders finish it when they complete eighth grade.
“It’s supposed to be a three-year program to track a student, and then we’re not tracking them,” Fabian said. “I don’t want to do just a half year of it and then scrap it with our kids expecting and waiting to do it the following years.”
Fulton said she began negotiating with Retnuh over the summer, and she was finally able to secure a contract for the second half of the 2025-2026 term. She plans to continue negotiating so she can eventually bring a three-year pact to the board.
Board member Christine Lensing said she, too, would prefer a three-year contract so the cohort starting it now finishes it at the end of their eighth-grade year. She believes the value of what the students will get in the next five months outweighs the continuity.
Lensing said she likes the inclusion of parents in the program along with their children. She is pleased that young people will get to know peers who will become their high school classmates, making the transition there smoother. She is troubled by them starting so soon, but blames reality,
“We’re in that world,” Lensing said. “We need to expose them to a variety of different options, especially when we’re looking at a workforce that’s going to be going up against AI, where they’re going to be eliminating certain jobs.
“We want to provide them with opportunities that they can implant in their minds, see what’s available and start working toward it,” she said.
