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"Super strengths" are many for the fifth-grade teacher from Coal City Intermediate School.
Thank You, Teachers
A tribute to education's local heroes
Morris Herald-News/Shaw Local News Network
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Matt Baker originally thought he’d be a journalist, but a love for the classrooms of his youth was always in the back of his mind, so he changed his plans at the University of Illinois.
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Todd Kein has spent 26 years at Morris as an English teacher and baseball and basketball coach. He has found a "happy marriage" coaching baseball while teaching literature.
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Read our letters submitted by students and parents to Morris Herald-News for our 2025 Thank You Teachers special edition
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A Joliet Junior College professor said she always enjoyed architecture but she never realized how much she enjoys teaching. When asked how she motivates her students, she says they motive her.
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Jenna Maierhofer has been a beloved teacher for over two decades. She will retire from Seneca High School at the end of the year.
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Every student coming through Dwight Elementary School over the last 32 years has been able to attend one of the more creatively planned third or fourth grade classes with Stinnett Gettinger.
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For all the hats Immaculate Conception School's Mary Gile wears teaching junior high students, it'd be hard to guess that she actually came to teaching later in life.
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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.
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Rhonda Johnson, who teaches at Immaculate Conception School in Morris, has been teaching fifth grade students for 25 years, following in the footsteps of some of her favorite teachers.
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Steven Custer, a Morris Community High School teacher and soccer coach uses his experience with the game to connect with new students as he teaches them English as a second language.
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Lauren Blatti’s journey toward teaching was inspired by one of her own childhood teachers, though she knew she wanted to be a teacher from a young age.
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Her passion for teaching turns her classes into hands-on learning experiences that embrace a wealth of topics designed to nurture well-rounded students.