Teaching keeps Furgal young

In a room decorated with signs, posters, the alphabet on the wall, books, small chairs, container trays and student artwork, Angela Furgal has a captive audience of 15 kindergarten students at Grace Christian Academy in Kankakee.

It’s a room of 5-year-olds thirsting to learn the basics that will set the course for the next 12 years of their education.

Furgal, a longtime elementary teacher, loves what she does for a living.

“They’re a riot,” she said of her young students. “They have no filter, and they just say it like it is. And honestly, that’s what kind of keeps you young in that regard because every year is totally different. I mean, my word, every day, every week, every month.

“It’s just the kids are what makes it fun. And the beauty of teaching is that you get a fresh start every fall so that you can improve upon what you did before.”

Furgal added that by the time May rolls around, they’re one big happy family.

“They tend to put their guard down,” she said. “... They’re not trying as hard as they were in the fall.”

Furgal knows the challenges based on her experience. She’s in her 31st year teaching, mainly kindergarten or first grade students. She spent most of her first 28 years in the Bradley school district.

“So shout out to Bradley,” she said. “I’m incredibly thankful for all of the training and experience that I got there, but it was always kind of a dream to be able to teach in a Christian environment where the Bible is the curriculum and Jesus is in the lesson plans.”

For a short time at Bradley Central, she taught sixth grade.

“But I’ll be honest with you, in the heart of hearts, kids are all the same,” Furgal said. “They just want to be seen and heard.”

When the opportunity arose to teach at Grace, she welcomed the change.

“Although I’ve been here for three years, I’m a new teacher again because it’s a new environment and completely different curriculum, because I can openly speak about Jesus, we can pray with the kids,” Furgal said. “It’s really cool, and it’s been wonderful.”

Furgal was at a point in her career where she could justify taking a “drastic” cut in pay to teach at a private school.

“However, it’s twice the peace and joy, and it’s been worth it,” she said. “I was just at a point in my career, and bottom line, and the best way to put it is I felt like I was surrounded by children that were drowning, and the one thing that I had to offer to give them, is the one thing I couldn’t talk about.

“So here I get to openly talk about that, so it’s just been a really nice change. And so that’s where I’m just going to end my career. I have no idea when I’ll retire.”

After living in Bourbonnais for several years, Furgal, 54, and her family moved to St. Anne. Her husband, Bobby, is a bricklayer, and her son, Ben, just graduated from Olivet Nazarene University. Her daughter, Abby, is a sophomore at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana.

“They grew up in classrooms, unfortunately, because I always got stuck working after school,” Furgal said. “They never understood why the school parking lot was empty, but I was still there.”

Education has been her life. After graduating from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School, Furgal spent two years at Kankakee Community College before graduating from Governors State University with a degree in education. She completed her master’s at ONU.

Through it all, she’s been able to strike a balance with her home life and teaching career.

“There’s such a misconception that teachers work from nine to three,” Furgal said. “That is the biggest joke ever. We’re often here late, well after three o’clock, planning for the next day. We take a book bag home. Sometimes that book bag takes a field trip in the car and doesn’t get out, but sometimes we work on it just late into the evening.”

The most difficult time in her career was when her kids were the same age as her students.

“Because I had the same issues all day, and then I came home and I had the same issues,” Furgal said.

“I would tap, Bobby, ‘It’s your turn. I need a break.’ But yeah, you just learn to make it work,” she said.

“I’m also blessed to have an incredibly supportive husband who has always been there for Ben, Abby and me,” Furgal said. “Bobby has built countless things for my classroom over the years, as well.”

Head of School Aaron Most is glad Furgal made it work.

“When she came over from public school to Grace, we actually had families from the community hear about that and started to attend Grace,” he said. “Just because of the caliber of who she is. ... It’s the way that she has a heart for kids, a heart for people. The way that she interacts with parents and just communicates, she’s the real deal. We’re so happy that she’s here.”