For more than three decades, members of the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry have welcomed thousands of teachers new to Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 at a luncheon as part of the rebranded New Educator Academy.
During the 2024 luncheon at York Community High School on August 6, ECCI President and CEO John Quigley will deliver a “Welcome to Our Community” speech and members will network with their sponsored teachers before Chamber staffers hand out Explore Elmhurst greeter totes filled with goodies donated by Chamber members.
“Veteran teachers coming to Elmhurst from other school districts, whether in Illinois and out of state, often remark about how welcoming our community is,” stated Quigley, who has served as ECCI’s President and CEO since 1999 and has been active in the Chamber since 1991.
In response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, District 205 restaged its new teacher orientation at York starting in 2020, with Chamber members delivering a video welcome via Zoom. No event was held in 2021 or 2022 due to extended pandemic-related restrictions.
From 2019 dating back to 1991 when started by then ECCI President A.J. “Toche” Terrones, sponsoring Chamber members treated teachers new to both Elmhurst’s public and private schools to a tasty banquet hall lunch and one-on-one conversation—a welcoming practice long-since imitated by other area chambers of commerce. Post lunch, new teachers were formally introduced to luncheon attendees by their Chamber sponsors.
Over those years, new teachers also took a tour of the Elmhurst community on buses or trolleys, with the Quigley among the business leaders providing current info and historical perspective.
The annual demographic of new teachers regularly includes those who attended public school in Elmhurst, from kindergarten through elementary school, middle school and York, along with a number of Elmhurst University graduates, and even sons and daughters of Chamber members.