ICS’s Hemmersbach hooked on teaching from the start

Kristen Hemmersbach didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life until a friend asked her to take an early childhood education course at Joliet Junior College, and that course reminded her of all the good teachers she had as a student in Shorewood.

Now she’s teaching first grade students at Immaculate Conception School, and has been for 23 years.

“When I was in high school, I wanted to be an accountant,” Hemmersbach said. “Then I took a class in high school and hated it, just hated it. It was the worst. I thought, well, I can’t be an accountant if I hate accounting. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do.”

Her best friend asked her to take an intro to teaching class with her and from the first day, Hemmersbach said she liked the direction it was going. From there, she started student teaching at Garfield School, which used to be next to Morris Hospital.

“I went to that classroom and I knew I wanted to be in a little classroom just like that, every day for the rest of my life,” Hemmersbach said. “I was hooked. I absolutely loved it. From that day on, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.”

Just like her class now, Hemmersbach said what drew her in was the warmth of the classroom and the feeling that she’s making a difference. On the day she interviewed with the Morris Herald-News, she actually did it in front of a group of her students who were curious about what a news interview was like.

The students were eager and happy to talk up their teacher, and the interview was as much part of their lesson as the handwriting homework in front of them: They got to hear how kindness helped Hemmersbach land her job.

“I was working at Morris Ace Hardware, which was called True Value back then,” Hemmersbach said. “I was the checker and Mr. D (retired Principal Kim Deslauriers) used to come to the hardware store sometimes to get things for the school. He’s a very friendly man, and he’d make small talk, ask about my name and the school.”

Deslauriers learned Hemmersbach was going to become a teacher, and he’d ask her about that when he saw her. He asked how school was going, and when she graduated from college, he mentioned an opportunity he had for her.

“He said we have this really big class coming through ICS,” Hemmersbach said. “They were in kindergarten, and he said he couldn’t have them in one classroom.”

For the first time and the only time since, ICS had to split a class into two separate classes. She was interviewed by Molly Lutz, who was teaching first grade back then, and it led to Hemmersbach’s first year teaching.

“First grade was always my dream job,” Hemmersbach said. “When I was in college and people would ask what grade I wanted to teach, I would always say I like any of them, but first grade is the dream job. I’m living out my dream.”