Grab a copy of this week’s Forbes magazine for JJ Colao’s great story about Chicago Tech Academy. It’s fitting recognition for the school during a week the nation celebrates teachers:

“We’re essentially trying to create 21st-century learners by integrating technology and entrepreneurship into all of the classes,” explains Pat Riley, 26, who teaches audio and visual editing at the school.

Much of the credit, Hancock emphasizes, goes to the “amazing professionals” on staff. Chicago Tech prefers to recruit teachers with diverse backgrounds. Pat Riley spent three years doing p.r. and business development for a Chicago law firm. Dan Wheadon, who teaches information technology, left his job as a software engineer at Intel. Teacher bonuses, unheard of in Chicago public schools, encourage integrating field trips and guest speakers into students’ lessons.

In the third year, Chicago Tech Academy is in  the 96th percentile of ALL public schools in Chicago in meeting or exceeding the pace at which kids learn the basics of their education. That is directly a result of incredible teachers and their innovative approach to instruction.

At a school where students cross several gang territories in their daily commute, Chicago Tech teens sit down with the likes of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, pollster John Zogby and Hospira CIO Daphne Jones. “We meet some pretty important people all the time,” says Chris Hayes, 17, who spoke ahead of Ballmer at an event in 2010. “It’s not even a big deal anymore.”

Check out the full story on Forbes.

Forbes is out with their list of Top Incubators and Accelerators in America, and it includes TechNexus. When we opened this facility five years ago, we did everything we could to avoid being called an incubator. The term had lots of baggage, especially around Chicago where the idea had been tried and spectacularly fell short. And in a broader sense, in my mind business incubators were too often connected to universities or government. To any extent, the collaborative community, carefully curated to include leaders from big companies and entrepreneurs from young companies, was something entirely different than any other incubator we found at the time.

So instead we used lots of different terms to describe TechNexus… it was a “clubhouse” for the tech community, a “collaboration center”, a “coworking spot”. Anything, please, but an incubator. We built a space that today nearly 3,000 people a month flow through, the right mix of entrepreneurs and corporate leaders, engineers and investors. Very early on startups asked for dedicated space, to grow their business right in the middle of this nexus where tech leaders gathered. Soon we found ourselves mentoring and helping those young companies, and today more than 150 companies have grown at TechNexus.

We didn’t set out to create an incubator, but arguably created the most successful incubator Chicago has yet seen. And there’s a clear theme to the companies that have grown here: they tend to be business to business solutions, they get customers and revenue and they have sound (if not always sexy) business models. They benefit from the strong industry connections and experience of collaborators at TechNexus.

Today, incubators and accelerators (which are something different still) are popular and an important part of innovation, and the country (and Chicago) need plenty more of them. Our friends at Excellerate Labs in Chicago also made the list with their 3 month accelerator program, and we’re thrilled for Troy and Sam and the entire Excellerate team to see their success.

And now TechNexus is comfortably growing to accept the success of our incubator, exploring ways to extend the ecosystem and make it more valuable to the collaborators. Stand by… or better still, get involved… we’re just getting started, and are incredibly excited for our next five years.

TechNexus is really a catalyst for innovation and growth… at our best, we’re aligning entrepreneurs, engineers and corporate partners and letting serendipity take over. Taking advantage of the opportunity an incubator or accelerator offers is really about placing yourself in the right place, and the right time, with the right people to help you succeed.

Debuting my new Forbes column today; from my first contribution:

Am I getting too old for this entrepreneur’s game, maybe too cynical? Has my risk tolerance receded with my hairline? Have I become a midlife cliché after 25 years of being the youngest, most impassioned guy in the room?

Screw all that. Everything is prelude. I’ve built some good organizations, but there’s still a really great company (or two or three) in me. I’ve known THAT with absolute certainty since I first put on that oversized suit and set out in search of customers 25 years ago.

A great summary of last week’s Chicago Tech Academy student lottery by the folks at Comptia, who as an organization has been the single greatest supporter of this new school startup. It simply would not have been possible to create this school and see the successful outcomes without Comptia’s vision, curriculum assistance, and financial support.

“I’m learning things I didn’t even know were possible,” he said. “I have good friends, I’m in a good place to be, and I’m surrounded by staff that actually cares,” says freshman Austin Lambert, who spoke with ChiTech supporters last week before the class of 2016 was chosen.

Creating confidence, passion and the ability to effectively communicate is a key part of the school’s mission.

Terry Howerton, chairman of the school’s board of directors, counseled those who didn’t make the list to hold onto their places on the waiting list, and those who did to make sure they were committed to the extra work ChiTech requires.

“This school is hard,” he said. “This school takes more hours of your day, and more of your commitment… But make a commitment to us, and we’ll make this commitment back to you: We will work our darndest for the next four years to make sure that you meet people you would never have had a chance to meet otherwise, learn skills that you would never otherwise been able to be exposed to, and have a successful future set out before you because of your participation in this program.”

If you’re interested in helping support this dynamic learning experience for Chicago students who much need your involvement, visit the school webpage or contact me and I will hook you up.

Nice write up by Christina DesMarais in Inc Magazine about Chicago Tech Academy:

If you think the next generation of start-up founders will hail from Stanford, Harvard, or some other university cranking out MBAs, you might want to expand your thinking. There’s a 3-year-old inner-city high school in Chicago—filled mostly with poor African American youth—grooming students who know how to think, act, and speak like entrepreneurs.

Tomorrow night we’ll find our fourth freshman class and help them start an adventure that connects then to a world of opportunity. This school is only possible because of the incredible support of mentors, teachers and so many that have played a role in helping the students imagine success.