Proviso West’s advanced manufacturing teacher will be honored for her outstanding work in educating Proviso students about the world of possibilities that can be unleashed through the manufacturing industry with not one, but two awards.
Impressed by her commitment to her students and to the manufacturing industry, April Senase was selected as the Greater Chicago Advanced Manufacturing Partnership’s “2024 Outstanding Manufacturing Educator.”
GCAMP is a coalition of area manufacturers, educators from across all levels, trade associations, workforce boards and others to work together to address skill gaps and the employment crisis faced by manufacturers.
The award, launched in January 2023, is meant to celebrate future makers and educators who are “instrumental in developing the next generation of makers and creators.”
On Feb. 13, Senase also received word that she was receiving the “Award of Meritorious Service,” in the Early Career Educator category for the 2024 Those Who Excel & Teacher of the Year awards by the Illinois State Board of Education.
“Thirteen has always been my lucky number and February 13, 2024, will be one I always remember,” Senase said about receiving notifications from both organizations about her winning the awards.
“Being acknowledged for these two amazing honors is very humbling and has me awestruck,” she said. “These awards show that I am on the right track and bring positive recognition to the Proviso Community as a whole, but especially to the Proviso West Manufacturing Program.”
Senase has always been a champion of the manufacturing industry, especially in terms of the possibility it can offer Proviso Township High School District 209 students and the community around the schools.
“This program at Proviso West High School is helping students [have] viable career options that don’t necessarily travel down the traditional post-secondary plans,” Senase said in an interview in 2023. “Just because you are not somebody who is not necessarily book smart only, there is something for those who want to work with her hands. We are bringing the trades back so they can feel good about themselves and feel a sense of pride. This is a career.”
Her work within the district has not gone unnoticed as Senase won the 2023 Illinois State Board of Education’s Teacher of the Year for Early Career Educator Meritorious Service Award before winning it again this year.
“It is such an honor to be recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for the second year in a row for Those Who Excel & Teacher of the Year Award as ‘One of the Best & Brightest in our Illinois Schools’,” Senase said.
The daughter of an educator, Senase said her mom, who has been in education for more than 30 years, has always expressed what a big honor the award holds, as many teachers go their whole career without being recognized.
Senase came to Proviso West in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and created the manufacturing program that the school board had been wanting to revitalize from the ground up. The manufacturing program now has four levels: foundations of technology, manual machines, CNC, and CNC II.
“I don’t want to chase a textbook. I want realistic skills,” Senase said.
Kate Hendrix-Foster, who was a college and career academy coordinator at Proviso West, said she knew from the moment Senase was interviewed that the manufacturing program would thrive under her leadership.
“Following a $1.5 million dollar investment in the creation of our Manufacturing Lab, Proviso West needed a dynamic educator to launch the program,” Hendrix-Foster, who is no longer with the district, said. “In three-and-a-half short years, Ms. Senase has hit the ground running and created an incredible program that has resulted in hundreds of students gaining essential employability skills that have translated into apprenticeship opportunities for multiple graduates from Proviso West.”
The manufacturing program at West has also now earned a spot as a part of the coveted SME Prime Program, the most comprehensive manufacturing and engineering program for high school students, an honor shared by only two other schools in Illinois.
Shelley Wooley, director at SME Education Foundation, said Senase embodies everything a great educator should be and someone who is continuously inspiring other teachers and the next generation of manufacturing.
“April’s students know they matter in her eyes,” Wooley said. “It is a pleasure to see her engage with these high school learners, one cannot help but smile as she encourages their aspirational outlook.”
Carl Fedele, automotive teacher at Proviso West, said Senase has been doing amazing work since her arrival at West and the two have worked together to teach their trades to their students, many of whom “cross train” between them.
“She has touched many of their lives to show them a skill that will earn them good wages after high school,” Fedele said. “She is an asset to the district we work in. I have seen her program from the start and now the sky is the limit.”
Senase will be presented with the award, as well as a $500 check, at the Valley Industrial Association Spark Awards, which aims to celebrate the accomplishments of member companies in various areas including culture, innovation, safety and workforce development among others.
The award ceremony will be held Wednesday, March 6 in Wheaton, Illinois.
Senase will also be awarded up to $500 worth of supplies for her classroom by GCAMP.
“I do not exaggerate when I saw we hit the jackpot when she joined our team,” Hendrix-Foster said. “And our students are so incredibly lucky to have her in their corner.”
