For the 2021-2022 school year, West Chicago Community High School has hired a total of 19 new faculty and staff members to stimulate learning.

One newcomer is Julie Swartzloff, who is now the Human Resources Director at West Chicago Community High School. When asked about what exactly an HR person does, she stated, “My job is essentially to support employees through their entire career, especially with recruiting and hiring, orientation, training, pro[fessional] development and through retirement.” For leisure, Swartzloff enjoys long distance running and playing with her dog, Phil.

Some of those employees Swartzloff assists include Jackie LaCour is a first-year English teacher. She is an alumna of WEGO who has returned “home”.

LaCour said,” I went here and loved it here, I maintained good relationships with my former teachers, I also student-taught here and wanted to come back even more.” 

In her free time, LaCour enjoys reading and playing with her black Labrador Retriever.

New math teacher Katelyn Beamish attended Benedictine University and Oswego High School. Beamish also coaches Junior Varsity Badminton. When she has the chance, she likes to play with her dog as well. When asked about her experience about teaching this school year, Beamish answered; “It’s been super fun to see the transition from remote learning to fully back to in-person school.”

Other new faculty and staff members include:

Marissa Renter Janiszewski-Band

Caitlyn Ryba-Speech Language Pathologist

Teresa Blonda-Special Education

Katelyn Beamish-Math

Amy Grabowski-Library Media Specialist

Jackie Lacour-Language Arts

Christopher Lewandowski-School Psychologist

Heather Lindgren- Math

Yesenia Martinez-School Counselor

Support Staff:

Madison Balaskas- Program Assistant-Special Education

Steven Gasser-Custodian

Page Larkin-Staff Nurse

Matthew Morse-Custodian

Shawn Summitt, Program Assistant-STAR

Robert Talbot, Program Assistant-World Languages

Ben Jurgonski-Personal Care Assistant/ Job Coach

With West Chicago Community High School hiring all these new great staff members, it seems the school is  ready to tackle the new school year.