Ohio Grade School's Linda Downey has been a teacher for 28 years – 20 of them in a first grade classroom.

Teaching dual credit courses for Illinois Valley Community College puts Vince Brolley back in high school, where he feels right at home.  

In a career of more than 30 years, John Beatty has taught and coached in schools big and small. Through it all he's enjoyed the interactions with students and 'pushing them to be the best they can be in the classroom as well as on the athletic field."

Read our letters submitted by students and parents to News Tribune for our 2025 Thank You Teachers special edition

Samantha Munks, a SOAR (Students Obtaining Achievement and Responsibility) high school teacher in Peru, pushes her students to be their best by inspiring them to dream and supporting them by meeting them at their level.

If you ask Hall High School’s science teacher Nicky Barto what advice she would give to her students about their future career, it would be this:

Putnam County High School art teacher Joshua Curry believes cultivating a student’s creativity is important. He has a way of encouraging risk taking and instilling confidence in students.

Margo Cartwright will retire from Jefferson Elementary School in Princeton at the end of the school year.

He was a rebellious student and "slacker" until he stumbled into auto shop. Now, La Salle-Peru High School's Mike Fisher runs the auto shop to teach his students accountability, professionalism.

Trinity Catholic Academy's Dominic Giacobazzi had his heart set on being an athletic trainer, but a funny thing happened on the way to the NFL. He became a Catholic school teacher.

La Salle-Peru High School teacher Alexandra West shares her own life experiences, from her travels to her life experiences as a woman of color, to help students connect and share their own stories to better understand multicultural literature.

As a student, she kept color-coded notes so, yes, Brittany Rynkewicz expects her students to be diligent. But the St. Bede English teacher also wants her kids to unlock their imagination and have fun.

After retiring after 35 years teaching at La Salle-Peru High School in May 2021, Bill Booker has taken on a part time job teaching PE three days a week at Mendota Holy Cross

Sally Etzenbach, a speech-language pathologist at Northview Elementary, helps autism students with limited verbal communication find their voice.

Adrianne Espinoza-Zamora, a Mendota High School Spanish teacher, fulfilled her childhood dream to become a teacher.

For Earlville teacher/coach Shannon Cook, patience has proven to be the key to success.

Dennis Anderson: Thank You, Teachers is our way of acknowledging the value these educators have in our lives.

Eye On Illinois: Thank a teacher who shaped your life, but also make time for the ones shaping other lives right this minute. Thank those who take jobs in districts that don’t pay as well, or pursue specialty areas where shortages are most extreme.