Read our letters submitted by students and parents to Sauk Valley Media for our 2025 Thank You Teachers special edition

Megan Grady, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Sterling's Challand Middle School, uses competition and interactive curriculum to keep kids engaged in history.

Brian Lobdell is a second grade teacher at Sterling’s Franklin Elementary School. He transitioned into his career at Sterling schools years ago after spending a decade as a stay-at-home dad.

Dixon Public Schools’ newest addition, Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School, is nearing what is sure to be a historic moment for the district - the end of its first school year. The school provides special-education services to students in kindergarten to 12th grade.

Dianna Brevitt is Sauk Valley Community College’s radiology program director, its Outstanding Faculty Award winner, and is being nominated for the 2025 Illinois Community College Trustees Association Outstanding Full-time Faculty Award.

Amy Heffelfinger and Heidi Ripley, who run Rock Falls High School's Family and Consumer Sciences Department, are helping students learn practical life skills that go beyond the classroom.

Dixon High School's choir and life skills classes joined forces early in the 2025 spring semester to create a new singing ensemble, Voices United, that includes students with disabilities who want to sing and perform.

Open Sesame celebrates 50 years of providing child care in Dixon.

Nolan Baker is a social studies teacher at Sterling High School and also serves as its head wrestling coach. Zhane Baker is an advanced placement English teacher at SHS.