Nikki Boresi injects lively creativity into learning experience in Coal City

A year and a half ago, Nikki Boresi was named a Star Teacher, the recognition established by the Coal City Community Unit Education Association. The honor aptly reflects the enthusiasm burning bright in the fifth-grade teacher from Coal City Intermediate School.

The Star Teacher nomination notes that Boresi “goes above and beyond to make her students love school. She comes up with creative projects and activities to get them excited about learning. … She has an ability to connect with her fifth-grade students in a way that makes them want to do their best."

Boresi teaches her pupils reading, math, science and social studies.

“Watching the students grasp new concepts or gush over a novel we are reading in class are moments that I love,” she said. “I also love that I am working for the school district that I grew up in. We have a small, close-knit community in Coal City. It is fun being able to see what paths my former students take when they leave fifth grade – whether it’s watching the sports they play, hearing about the clubs they’ve joined or seeing them act and sing on stage in our district’s plays and musicals."

She calls fifth grade a fun age.

“I like to bring a little competition into the classroom [such as a] March Madness multiplication tournament,” Boresi said. “We do … little competitions and activities … to bring excitement into learning."

To inspire students to achieve during testing, she makes it easy for parents, siblings, guardians and friends to write the children encouraging letters.

“I feel having strong relationships … with the parents makes it even better," Boresi says of effectiveness in the classroom.

One of her super strengths is all the time she devotes to communication with parents, Principal Tracy Carlson said, while another is always trying new ways to improve educational outcomes.

“She is truly a leader for her entire fifth-grade team; they respect her. I have the utmost respect for her,” Carlson said.

For Boresi, it was the memory of past teachers who inspired her that prompted the shift from a planned business profession into striving to make an impact in the classroom.

She started her teaching career at Coal City Intermediate School right after earning her degree at Illinois State University. She also holds a master’s degree in reading from Olivet Nazarene University.

Her last name is familiar in the community. Her brother-in-law, Brad Boresi, is the athletic director at Coal City High School.

She and her husband have two sons in the second and fourth grades.

When Coal City Intermediate School was closed for repairs last fall, classes were relocated to the Coal City Elementary School for the current school year and the next.

“Now I get to be with both my sons,” Boresi said of sharing the same school building.

When the decision to shift to the elementary school came, Boresi said they only had a weekend to pack and move everything over from her classroom of 19 years. She praises the community’s assistance.

“I just love Coal City – a small town [where people are] always helping each other out,“ she said, citing friends and family who spent that weekend making it seem like the classrooms were up and running for years.

Again this summer, Boresi will keep busy with the team’s curriculum work, planning to read as many books as she can.

Carlson said some new curricular books are adopted each summer, and Boresi works hard to realign the curriculum to make it the best fit and sequence for the fifth-grade students, noting, “She will share that with everyone immediately.”

“School is always in the back of my head,” Boresi said.

Part of that extends to helping determine the theme for the coming academic year and the back-to-school activities.

“I’m on the events committee,” Boresi said. “The Intermediate School is famous for back-to-school videos. My brother-in-law used to be in charge. I took his place – big shoes to fill."

She produces the video and plays a major role in the September pizza night, in which school families preorder pizzas from a local restaurant and the teachers form teams to deliver them, driving vehicles loaned by D’Orazio Ford in Wilmington, Carlson said. Boresi organizes the route for the evening event, with proceeds used to acquire year-round incentive rewards for students.

Boresi also runs the annual spelling bee and is her building’s representative for the family wellness night in February, which draws hundreds of people, Carlson said, adding that Boresi also served as an unpaid mentor for teachers twice this year.

“She does so many fun things in the classroom,” Carlson said. “Four times a year, she does these huge projects where the kids apply what they’re learning. They will become a chef at a pizzeria when doing fractions.”

Boresi supplies aprons and chef’s hats for that project, Carlson said, adding another one has students role-playing surgeons in scrubs and masks.

The principal said she appreciates Boresi dropping into her office with daily feedback.

“Our school as a whole is fun,” Boresi said. “Everyone is willing to help each other out and willing to put their all into anything that we do.”