‘They’re just very eager to contribute to society’ Cove Career Center opens in downtown Northbrook

Something new opened on the block that used to be historic auto garage space in Northbrook’s downtown.

Cove Career Center celebrated its opening with an Oct. 7 ribbon cutting event at 1370 Meadow Road with local neighbors and elected officials.

The center, associated with The Cove School (also in Northbrook at 350 Lee Road) provides individualized post-high school education and life strategies for young adults with disabilities.

The center’s tall storefront windows overlook Northbrook Village Green Park at an address tucked among ice cream shops and retail businesses, bringing desired visibility in the community, said Sally L. Sover, executive director of The Cove School.

“We looked long and hard for the right location,” Sover said.

Cove Career Center has social space, classrooms and a large kitchen.

“This is a special, special place,” said Illinois State Sen. Laura Fine of Glenview, a 1985 Glenbrook South High School graduate. “Education doesn’t stop at 18, everybody wants to have that opportunity to have a fulfilling life and this is a part of it.

“These are our friends, our family members, and they are part of our community, and a special part of our community, and I know so many people who will go to a particular business because of the people that they do employ,” Fine said.

October is Learning Disabilities (LD) Awareness Month and National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM).

Mike Krupa of Lake Zurich, store manager for Walgreens, said the Walgreens Krupa manages at 1050 N. Waukegan Road maintains a partnership with The Cove School, providing on-site work for students.

“I love it,” Krupa said. “I love working with them (Cove students), how happy they are when they come in and just the enthusiasm they bring to the store, things that they’re doing, things that they’ve learned, things that they want to learn.

“They’re just very eager to contribute to society.”

Cove Career Center is close to train and bus line public transportation and within walking distance to the Northbrook Walgreens (at the corner of Waukegan and Shermer Roads).

“This is just a good opportunity for Walgreens to help the community,” Krupa said.

“It’s just a great organization,” Krupa added about The Cove School. “The teachers are great, they’re always there helping the students learn new talents.”

The Cove Career Center also provides job shadowing and field trips.

“This is just such an exciting opportunity for our kids,” said The Cove School Principal Alex Laube, who has worked at Cove School for 13 years.

“To help them be the best that they can be,” Laube said, ” . . . this was meant to be.”

Elan Peretz of Deerfield, Cove board president, said the school has studied a career center concept for at least a decade with previous plans of expanding the high school.

“This was amazing, this was a total shift,” Peretz said of the downtown Northbrook location.

Peretz said a fundraising mission of $7.5 million will help to support the Cove Career Center and its expansion via an endowment.

“It’s really a new chapter in Cove’s history,” Peretz said.

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Rob and Lisa Flanagan of Winnetka, Cove School board members, have a daughter Natalie who graduated from Cove in 2016.

Their daughter has a job in the morning at a Waukegan promotional firm and spends the afternoon in Wilmette at Our Place which serves teens and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“People with disabilities offer so much to the workforce and community,” Natalie’s mother Lisa said.

“With the right support, they can go on to do amazing things.”

Rob Flanagan said, “It’s really about seeing them integrated in the community, living an independent life.”

Christine Wiedmayer of Highland Park, Cove board member, has a son Jack who has attended The Cove School since third grade.

“Just to be a part of this incredible community that sees children with disabilities of having a lot of potential and things to offer, and helping them to find their place in the world, is so exciting,” Wiedmayer said.

“We’ve been waiting for this for such a long time.”

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.