Melissa Jenco, TribLocal reporter

When Damen Lopez was growing up, his father gave him a pipe wrench to hold in one outstretched hand and a pencil in the other.

The wrench got heavy and fell from his hand while the hand with the pencil stayed steady.

“That’s the difference between a job and a career,” his father told him. “That’s the difference between a high school diploma and a college education.”

Lopez, founder of the No Excuses University network of schools, recently brought that message stressing the importance of college to Elgin-based School District U-46 families preparing for the start of school.

More than half of the district’s students are from low-income families and many of their parents did not attend college.

“When you look at your kids, look them in the eye and don’t be afraid for a second to tell them you expect them to go to college,” Lopez said. “Whether you went or not you have to ingrain this in them.”

He stressed that there is nothing wrong with blue collar work and he came from humble beginnings himself. But a four-year degree, he said, opens up more opportunities.

Quoting College Board statistics, Lopez said high school dropouts earn $23,400 a year on average while people with a bachelor’s degree earn $50,900 and those with a doctorate earn $70,400.

Lopez also said students have to be neither rich nor extremely smart to go to college.

“You have to have the will to go to college,” he said.

His No Excuses University program encourages staff and parents to raise expectations and prepare children for college. The program is currently in six of the district’s schools – Abbott, Kenyon Woods and Ellis middle schools and Coleman, Hanover Countryside and Lowrie elementary schools.

Superintendent Jose Torres said the district is striving for an average ACT score of 24.  Currently the average is 19.6.

He asked parents to do their part by making sure their children get to school.

“We’re working really hard but if they don’t come to school on time, they’re going to miss things that are good for them,” Torres said.

Jennifer Panzer of Elgin grew up in a family that didn’t stress the importance of college.  Now she is a mother of four who is going back to school and said college is “nonnegotiable” for her own children. Motivation, she said, will be the biggest hurdle, but she likes that Lopez’s program stresses visualization and taking away excuses.

April Anderson of Elgin said she worries about the expense of sending her two children to college, but she, too, feels it is a must and was impressed by Lopez’s talk.

“When you’re surrounded by a mentality that says we expect you to succeed, we expect you to work hard, I think that raises everyone’s  … behavior,” she said. “It raises their standards.”

Elgin Community College and Judson University both raffled off scholarships during the event.