Plainfield Catholic teacher works to create a space for students to grow, learn

Chris Hueg said his mother recalls that he wanted to be a teacher since his very first day of kindergarten.

Hueg, who works as full-time teacher at St. Mary Immaculate Parish School in Plainfield, has aspired to work as a teacher all his life. Although he never received a perfect attendance award, he said he loves being in a school environment and wants to ensure others enjoy it as well.

Hueg said his mother remembers that when he came home from his first day of kindergarten, he told her he couldn’t wait to grow up and become an educator like his kindergarten teacher.

“She created this beautiful environment in our kindergarten classroom,” Hueg said.

As an eighth-grade homeroom teacher, Hueg, in turn, works to create a comfortable environment for students that allows them opportunities to learn and grow so they can become their own person.

Hueg teaches religion for seventh- and eighth-grade students, along with reading and language arts for eighth graders. He’s also a director of the school’s drama club and a part-time campus minister.

“It’s important that when going into education you are going to create a space where students are able to be their authentic selves,” Hueg said.

Jennifer Errthum, principal of St. Mary Immaculate Parish School, said Hueg is “very energetic.” When students go on to become freshman students in high school, they will come back to thank them for the “knowledge base he has built with them,” she said.

“The kids that he teaches really identify with him when it comes to any kind of subject matter,” Errthum said.

In 2016, Hueg was hired as a full-time campus minister for St. Mary Immaculate Parish School before he switched to becoming a full-time teacher in 2018. He said his time there has helped him grow not only as an educator but also as a Catholic.

“It is a community I have grown to love that has accepted me with big, open arms and provided me with so many positive experiences,” Hueg said.

Hueg said that as an educator for a Catholic school, he’s able to have some creativity and freedom in his teaching lessons. He said it’s important to be able to provide a safe space for students to be curious and ask questions, given in a matter of years they’ll be adults and need to know how to make decisions for themselves.

Hueg said that teaching can be a thankless job, but he tries to provide meaningful experiences for students. Those students can then bring that experience home to their parents, who then will thank teachers, he said.

“If you stay determined and keep pushing, you are going to see the positive outcome not only from your students but families and the community around you,” Hueg said.

Hueg said teaching is a vocation, and it is not meant for everyone.

“It’s not an easy job, but I’m really blessed and touched from my first day in school [that I] was inspired by a positive teacher,” Hueg said. “I never let that light dim.”