Oglesby teacher saved a child and then taught another generation

She once saved a child from drowning. Amy Quinn was a lifeguard in La Salle when a boy plunged into the deep end and didn’t come up. She dove in and got him before resuscitation was needed.

The news filtered back to Quinn’s mom, Linda Petelin, who had watched 16-year-old Amy manage the beginner swimmers and now saw the depths her daughter would descend, literally, to help children.

“You should become a teacher,” Linda pronounced.

“I think she just saw it,” recalled Quinn, now an 18-year educator and kindergarten teacher at Oglesby Elementary. “You should listen to your mother, I guess. And she was right.”

Nobody knows better than mom, and if Quinn needs reminders of her calling she gets them not only from students but from parents and colleagues.

Jen Pillion is a colleague at Oglesby Lincoln, but also a mom whose two children completed kindergarten in Quinn’s classroom. Pillion recalled how son Brendan was home sick for a week. Quinn recorded Brendan’s classmates wishing him a speedy recovery and sent the video messages to the Pillion home to buoy his spirits.

“My children loved Mrs. Quinn and still talk fondly of her to this day,” Pillion said. “My daughter, Lauren, who is now in college said Mrs. Quinn will check in to see what she is up to or how she is doing. That is why she is special.”

A little encouragement in Quinn’s childhood home didn’t hurt. Linda and Pat Petelin made education a point of emphasis when Quinn was growing up in La Salle with brother Andy, now a physician in New York City.

Pat Petelin drew a nice living at American Nickeloid but wanted higher education for his children. Linda herself returned to school at 40 to earn an associate’s degree from IVCC, after which she went to work for La Salle Elementary as a birth-to-5 parent educator.

“It was cool to see her go back and to set a good example for us,” Quinn recalled.

Quinn acquitted herself well in the classroom and also attended IVCC before earning a degree in early education from Illinois State University. She accepted a post teaching kindergarten in Oglesby and quickly established a reputation for being “caring and calm,” principal Michael Balestri recalled.

“She is a successful teacher because she is willing to adapt and adjust to her students and their needs in the classroom,” Balestri said.

Out of the gate, however, there were challenges. Quinn’s first kindergarten class included an emotionally disturbed child and the outbursts were nerve-wracking for the newly minted graduate.

Two realizations kept her going. First, it was only kindergarten: No day would ever quite go according to plan and it was necessary to shrug off little headaches. She learned she could adapt as well as her kids and took a long-game approach to teaching them.

“It’s so minimal what’s expected in kindergarten,” she said, “but where they start and where they end is a huge gain.”

She also saw how quickly children warmed to her, she said. Their shameless affection made even the toughest days bearable.

“I’m their best, favorite teacher in their little 5-year-old world,” Quinn said, smiling. “I just love hearing that. They’re always telling me how beautiful I am. They love you for anything you do.”

And while there are stresses, she has a unique avenue for dealing with them: She moonlights as La Salle’s city clerk.

It was a post she ran for (uncontested) during a particularly stressful time of her life. John Duncan IV, La Salle’s finance director, had worked with Quinn on some school projects and picked up on some managerial skills that he thought would dovetail nicely with the duties at city hall.

“She’s a good communicator and very organized,” Duncan said. “She’s a very intelligent person and I thought she would represent the city well.”

She also sought a master’s degree from St. Xavier University, a program that combined independent study with offsite classes at La Salle-Peru Township High School. Her goal, however, was not to switch to administration or to transition out of kindergarten, where she was happy and contented.

“She could teach any age children, but I truly believe she was meant to be a teacher of the little kiddos,” Pillion said. “She makes such a connection with the children. She always helps ease the children’s worries and lets kids be kids while at the same time helping them learn.”

Quinn’s advice to would-be teachers is to accept the fact the world is changing, both on the home front and in the classroom. The adaptability she cultivated with shrieking 5-year-olds has come in handy as teachers face new and at times unreasonable expectations.

“You have to take it day-by-day because there are so many changes happening,” she said. “And it’s not on our school and it’s not on our administration. It’s just what’s happening in this world right now.”

COVID-19 proved as much. She initially fretted over the lost classroom time — “There’s a lot to teach in 176 days” — but she’s huddled with other Oglesby teachers and together they’ve juggled the curriculum to get everyone caught up from the inevitable gaps in remote learning.

“Honestly, these kids are adjusting really well.”

And so is she. Retirement isn’t looming with two young sons at home — neither has yet reached junior high — but even when their education is completed Quinn sees herself still in the kindergarten room and still enjoying it.

“I’ll definitely stick it out until the end.”