HINCKLEY – Dr. Peter Pasteris leaves his mark everywhere he goes.

He apparently impressed Tommy Lasorda so much at a dinner, the hall of fame Dodgers' manager remembered him when they ran into each other a few years later.

"That's why I'm a Dodgers fan," Pasteris joked. He said he was at Dodger Stadium when Kirk Gibson hit his famous home run for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series. Pasteris is also a fan of the White Sox, Bears, U.S.C., Bulls and Lakers.

Now Pasteris is hoping to leave his mark on Hinckley-Big Rock CUSD #429. He officially assumed his role as superintendent on July 1.

In high school, Pasteris wrote for the school newspaper, competed on the speech team and made morning announcements over the PA system. Outside the classroom, he played basketball and baseball.

"My father did not want me to play football, which was probably my favorite sport," he said. He later walked on the football team at Illinois State, which he attended after going to Joliet Junior College.

At Illinois State, Pasteris got his bachelor's degree in geology and earth science while minoring in mass communication. He also earned a master's degree in administration from Illinois State and a doctorate in curriculum from Northern Illinois University.

He and his wife of 20 years, Laurie, a former teacher he met on a blind date, have two daughters: Carly, a senior, and Emma, a sophomore, at Oswego High School. In their spare time, the couple raises thoroughbred horses.

Recently, Pasteris was able to sit down with MidWeek reporter Doug Oleson to discuss his career and his goals for H-BR.

MidWeek: Where was your first teaching job?
Peter Pasteris: At Joliet High School, I taught earth science and special ed and coached three sports: football, baseball and basketball, both girls and boys. I was there for nine years.

MW: What was your first administrative position?
PP: My first administrative job was at Woodridge. I was there for two years and then I went to Downers Grove. ...I then went to Oswego High School, where I went to school, for five years. I was an assistant principal.

MW: What was that like?
PP: That was exciting. It's interesting to go back to where you were a student. Many of my old teachers were still there.

You have to remember, I was older then. It's not like I was fresh out of college four years later. At that point, I already had 13 years of school experience, along with four years of college, so 17 years later, I returned.

MW: Did it feel strange at all?
PP: It was outstanding. It was excellent. I really enjoyed that. At that time, Oswego was getting ready to grow again. I was in charge of a number of things: activities, discipline, attendance. I was also a department chair. As we grew, I did other things.

It was great. Both my assistant jobs were excellent.

MW: What was your first job as principal?
PP: I took my first principal job in Amboy, about 350 kids. I was there two years. Then, on a whim, I went to Naperville North for four years. I always joke about it, but I had more staff there than I had students in Amboy. We had right around 3,100 students. I can't tell you how exciting that was. I learned a lot.

At the time, the students had taken what they call TIMMS, the Third International Measurement of Mathematics and Science. It was like a test. It was the third time they did it. There was a certain grade level of kids, they would have been my sophomores, they took a test and compared themselves with other kids from around the world.

We were No. 1 in the world in science and No. 5 in math. That was exciting.

One of my teachers, he was instrumental in starting – you see it once in awhile on David Letterman – the weird and crazy science kids from Naperville. Lee Merrick was the teacher and he got that started.

MW: Then where did you go?
PP:  Then I had an opportunity to open up a new high school at Plainfield North. I had input into the hiring of every staff member, so I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to do. Right away, we were very successful there. We were recognized as one of the top 100 high schools in Illinois. Athletics were very good immediately.

MW: What was your first superintendent's position?
PP: From there, I took my first superintendent's job at Nettle Creek in Morris. I was there four years. This past year we were recognized by the state for our test scores, from 96 percent the first year I was there to 99.5. But most important, we went from 52 to 69 percent in exceeds category. That's huge. Every student had an opportunity to get recognized down on the Senate floor in Springfield. And then they had Nettle Creek Day this past Nov. 15.

I loved it there. And then someone told me I should look at this job.

MW: What about Hinckley appealed to you?
PP:  The challenge was there. The opportunity to move to a K-12 district. Remember, I had already been a high school principal, pretty successful, I think. I had an opportunity to get superintendent's experience, but it was at a small K-8.

This school district is still somewhat small, under 1,000 students, but it's K-12 and it has a high school component, so it has three buildings. To me, it was a little bit more of a challenge and that's why I took it.

Personally, I wasn't looking to go in and be a superintendent at a bigger district. I've already been in big and big isn't better. There are good things, but with big comes other problems. I felt this would be a nice step, because it is larger than what I was at.

And I love the town. I've been through here before, going to Northern, and I like the size of the town. It is close enough to where I live.

MW: What's your biggest challenge here?
PP: There are a number of challenges. The first thing is to get to know everybody. Not just the staff members, but the people in the community and the students. ... And to look at where the district has been, where they're currently at and, obviously, where I want them to go. We've already set that course.

MW: What is that course?
PP: It's very simple. We want to be recognized nationally academically and athletically. My goal is for everyone to succeed at a higher level than they already have. That's staff, that's kids, that's everybody.

We want 100 percent of our students to succeed. We want our students to be more college ready. From what I've seen, students have gone to college, but not as many have gone to four-year colleges. So I would like to work with our high school to support that higher endeavor of them going to a higher level.

We want to take our freshmen to places like Northern and Waubonsee and Aurora College, to different places like that, to see what their campuses are like so they'll want to be a part of that.

MW: I suppose the budget is a challenge for all schools these days.
PP: It's easier said than done, but we're trying to do more with less.