From corporate to the classroom, educator still helping St. Charles students a decade after career switch

Editor’s Note: This story originally was published as part of Shaw Local News Network’s Thank you, Teachers coverage in May 2022.

When St. Charles School District 303′s Anne Dragosh’s corporate job was being eliminated in 2009 after 13 years, the Winfield resident knew it was the perfect time to reevaluate her career.

It didn’t take her long to realize that she wanted to be in a classroom, working with high school students, she said. Dragosh said she decided to pursue special education, in part because of her experience as a child volunteering with Marklund Day School in Bloomingdale, which provides educational opportunities for students with disabilities.

Dragosh, now District 303′s Transition Program coordinator, said she earned a master’s degree in special education from National Louis University in 2012, followed later by a post-secondary transition specialist graduate certificate from Illinois State University.

She officially became a teacher at age 38, with her first job in 2012 at West Chicago High School. She’s worked in special education for 10 years, and has spent the last two with District 303. Her job is to help students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22 learn important life skills and job training after they graduate from high school.

“I love this population,” Dragosh said. “I love that they’re done with high school and they’re really thinking about what comes next and how to make that happen. We’re preparing students to live their best life – whatever that means for them. With special education, you’re working with fewer kids, but they have totally different needs and experiences and sets of skills and deficit areas. You’re constantly changing what you’re doing as your students change. No two years are ever the same.”

The district’s Transition Program, which is located in the Haines Center, provides vocational training, functional academics and community experiences to students who have an individualized education plan. There are about 30 students in the program.

“We’re teaching math applications in the real world, like personal budgets, comparison shopping, balancing a bank account,” Dragosh said. “Some students need adult skills and work experiences and vocational opportunities to prepare them for independence.”

The students visit local grocery stores once a week after working on budgeting and making a list earlier in the week, and they visit local community sites such as the post office or municipal center. The program also offers vocational training, where the students spend a day each week learning skills in the morning and going out with job coaches to local businesses in the afternoon, Dragosh said.

Recently, Dragosh worked with her students to start a new T-shirt pressing business. She said the program received a grant from the St. Charles Education Foundation to obtain a professional-grade T-shirt press. The group printed the T-shirts for the St. Charles Polar Plunge on March 26.

“We have a business we use to design logos and have a wholesaler we buy shirts from and we’re training our students, but we expect it to be a full-time job on campus next year,” she said. “[The students] can watch a business grow and learn it from top to bottom. We’re training them to follow instructions and a lot of other employment competencies.”

Aubree Schuett, administrator of the Transition Program, said that since joining the transition team, Dragosh has expanded the student-led “micro-business” experiences.

“[Dragosh] has established work training experiences alongside her colleagues where students practice employability skills in a safe, supportive environment,” Schuett said. “She is a dedicated professional who is student-centered and focused on ensuring the opportunities we provide are authentic, address student interests and promote independence. She is an excellent leader. We are grateful she is a member of the D-303 school community.”

While Dragosh said being a teacher is “the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she is confident she made the right choice to leave the corporate world for the classroom. She’s taking courses at Northern Illinois University to earn her Director of Special Education certificate and plans to remain in special education for the long term, Dragosh said.

“You pour your heart and soul into these kids and what we do. I wake up in the middle of the night worrying, thinking of how you can do better,” she said. “I’ve always been a hard worker, and I did well at my old company. I could go back into the private sector and make more money and have less stress, but this is where I want to be. It’s true for any teacher. People don’t stay in this career because it’s easy. People who are here choose to be here.”