Marisa Edler
Marisa Edler’s face can be familiar – she’s been around the school for quite some time, only this time, she’s now a teacher. Edler has been a teacher’s assistant since 2022 and has now transitioned into a full-time teaching position.
Having graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington, Edler decided to come back to work at VHHS, the school she graduated from in 2018.
“I always knew that this is the school I wanted to work in, because not only are the students amazing, the staff here are so helpful and encouraging,” Edler said. “It really feels like a team.”
Before being a teacher assistant and full-time teacher, Edler worked at VHHS as the junior varsity dance team head coach and Orchesis assistant director. Back then, one of her fellow Orchesis directors suggested she would be a good teacher.
“I knew I always wanted to teach, I just thought I would be teaching dance,” Edler said. “Once I learned about the special education world, how versatile it is, and how much you are just a fierce advocate for students, I really fell in love with the work.”
As for the relationships she’s already been cultivating, Edler plans on being a person students can go to for support.
“I want to [be] just another person that people can talk to, just another cheerleader rooting on every student that walks into this room. I hope to add love and support [to the school community],” Edler said.
Matthew Weinberg
Matthew Weinberg isn’t just a new face to VHHS, but also to the neighboring school Libertyville. Weinberg splits his time between the two schools during the school day, teaching business education classes and coaching fresh-soph girls’ volleyball at VHHS.
After spending some time in the corporate world in downtown Chicago, Weinberg decided to shift his route to something more fulfilling: teaching. Not just teaching, but teaching at the school he graduated from in 2011.
“I thought back to the teachers I had when I was a student here, and I said, ‘these people are awesome. They’ve made my life wonderful, and they look like they enjoy what they’re doing. So I want that to be me,’ and hopefully, now, that is me,” Weinberg said.
Some teachers who taught Weinberg, and are now his coworkers, are Mr. Friedrich, Mr. Rush, Mr. Brettner, Mr. Caton and Mrs. Baranyk. Like the teachers who taught him almost 20 years ago, he hopes to stick around Vernon Hills for a long time to come, and contribute to fostering a positive environment where his two-year-old son Henry might study someday.
‘I love working with students and [their] different experiences and backgrounds, especially for a very diverse school like Vernon Hills,” Weinberg said. “Learning about different cultures, experiences, […] [sudent’s] personalities and interests.”
Josh Hoins
Josh Hoins has joined the D128 community all the way from Nebraska. Hoins envisioned working at VHHS after graduating from University of Nebraska-Lincoln due to its excellence, but also by his and his girlfriend’s decision to move closer to the area she grew up in.
“When Illinois schools get ranked, Vernon Hills always comes up super high,” Hoins said. “I have a lot of friends who […] are in education in the area, and every single person was like, ‘wow. Vernon Hills is a great school.’”
Hoins’ favorite part of teaching is being able to interact with students and support them through his classes.
“There’s so much growth, change and maturity that happens [in high school], it’s really awesome to get to experience that alongside the students,” Hoins said.
More than just accompanying students’ growth, Hoins wants them to know they can succeed in science classes.
“Science subjects are hard. They’re really difficult, and students struggle,” Hoins said. “It validates me and makes me feel good to help students overcome those struggles and see those successes in areas that are difficult.”
Science, however, was not always Hoins’ first option. In high school, he wanted to be a woodshop teacher. Back then, his AP Chemistry teacher changed his mind.
“My teacher told me, ‘you clearly really like helping people in this class. I think you need to be a science teacher,’” Hoins said. “And he was right, and here I am.”
Gabby Perez
Recently graduated from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Gabby Perez has dived right into D128, splitting time teaching classes between Vernon Hills and Libertyville.
Perez’s interest in helping people, especially with English classes, which she now teaches, have been solidified through her college career.
“I really love helping people and talking [to] other people,” Perez said. “When I was in college, I liked to volunteer for a bunch of tutoring opportunities. So slowly, through my [tutoring] jobs, I realized that I really, really like to [teach], and it understands me. I feel so happy after I teach.”
Perez loves learning about student’s different cultures. She also hopes to coach softball at Libertyville in the spring.
“I speak Spanish. My parents are very Mexican, so I just love learning about other cultures and stuff like that,” Perez said.
Perez decided to go into teaching as a way to support students and their mental health.
“I wanted to become a teacher because I really care about kids,“ Perez said. “I try to always check in with my students and make that the backbone of [my] classroom. I feel like in English, too, there’s a lot of room for conversation and to talk about things like yourselves and how you’re doing in your life; making [English class have] a humanistic based approach.”
Mack Ryan
Mack Ryan has moved back from Kenosha to somewhere very close to her hometown, Libertyville. Ryan works on more than just classes, balancing her week between teaching special services classes and providing reading intervention accommodations.
“I really had a draw to be able to come back to the district that I grew up in. I have a lot of positive memories from being a student [at LHS],” Ryan said.
Ryan works with students who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) to support them in developing their reading skills, using strategies to improve English fluency and comprehension in a way that centers student’s goals.
“My favorite part of being a teacher is the relationship piece of it. I spent the first part of my career at an elementary [school] level, so it’s been a lot of fun this year to figure out what it looks like to build relationships with high school students,” Ryan said. “It’s [interesting to see] their ability to communicate about harder topics, wants and needs and advocate for themselves in the IEP world.”
Ryan has had personal experiences with the special education world growing up, so being able to work with it is really meaningful to her.
“I think the appeal of knowing that I could be a part of people’s lives and be able to celebrate success at all levels and all forms was something that I wanted to be a part of,” Ryan said.
Rachel Kincaid
Rachel Kincaid, originally from Wheaton, Ill., decided to come back to the Chicago suburbs after spending eight years in Indiana after having graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington.
Growing up, Kincaid always knew she wanted to be a teacher. More specifically, she knew since second grade.
“I had a little play classroom in my basement, with my stuffed animals, and I would teach them little things,” Kincaid said. “My second grade teacher saw that I was interested in [teaching] and took me under her wing […], she even let me help grade some things.”
However, in college, Kincaid decided to explore other career paths. In the end, she knew she’d always come back to education, in particular, math, her favorite subject.
“[Math] was always my favorite class in school, the one I looked forward to the most,” Kincaid said. “I questioned [my career path] a lot when I got older, [but] I liked the idea of working with people and kids.”
Now, during her math classes, Kincaid works on building student’s confidence by introducing simpler concepts, and then implementing harder topics.
“Helping students [with] small wins shows them that they can do it,” Kincaid said. “Teachers love the light bulb moments, when [students] pick up on something for the first time and something finally clicks. That’s always a really rewarding feeling to a teacher.”