Manuel Gonzalez started off as a custodian in Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47. Now, he’s a dual language teacher at the district’s Canterbury Elementary School.

Ivan Cisneros Cabanas reflects on the last eight years using music and humor to teach Spanish at Olson Elementary in Woodstock,

Jimmy Roberts was already a longtime teacher and basketball coach at Algonquin's Jacobs High School when he decided to take on a new role, as girls flag football coach for the newly formed team.

Read our letters submitted by students and parents to the Northwest Herald for our 2025 Thank You Teachers special edition

Glen Pecoraro, the first baseball coach in Prairie Ridge history, is retiring from coaching at the end of the 2025 season. He plans to retire from teaching in the next 2-3 years. His Wolves have advanced to state twice, finishing second in Class 3A in 2021.

Twenty years ago, Elle Creighton was among the first dual-language students in Woodstock School District 200. And Lillian Hayes was one of the program’s first teachers. Now they're colleagues.

Lorraine Egan was still at Crystal Lake Central High School when Pearl Harbor was bombed and she decided to joined the Navy's as among the first of the WAVES units.

Peter Cirelli reflects on time in WWII as he ran a Toyko kitchen for Army General Douglas MacArthur and created unlikely friendships.

Ronnie Reber of McHenry is a fifth-generation woodworker. He uses his skills to help veterans.

McHenry veterans say its the town's patriotism, spirit that make it a center for ex-military residents

Operation HerStory celebrates women who served and put on its first flight to Washington landmarks in 2021. The group is hoping to organize a second trip.

Richard Phannenstill worked for decades to raise funds for a memorial honoring his classmates who died in Vietnam. A portion of those funds, raised 10 years ago, went to Veterans Path to Hope this year.

Diane Ahrens spent 15 years shipping goodie boxes to troops overseas while running her East Dundee bakery. When she closed the business, she found another way to give back to those who have given of themselves to the country.

Chaplain Ken Hauser, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Viet Nam where half his unit was killed or injured, has prayed with countless number of veterans and civilians grieving and struggling with personal conflicts.

Longtime Crystal Lake resident Donna Vestal comes from a long line of veterans, and her daughter also had a long military career: “I think everybody should go.”