La Salle-Peru High School's Nancy Kochis class is the only of its kind offered at L-P, covering a wide range of topics including fingerprinting, fiber analysis, arson, trace evidence analysis and blood spatter patterns.

Steve Amy knew he wanted to be a coach one day, growing up in a house with a father who was a multi-sport coach and teacher. He just didn’t know he wanted to teach. He said once he started teaching at Princeton, "it was a lot of fun. We have great kids here. Makes it easy.”

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:

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.