Alumni Features

When Lily Bonovich was a student at Dr. Julian Rogus School, she remembers enjoying when they would have class outside.

“I loved to go outside and to have class outside,” said Bonovich. “But the only problem with it was that you were on the hot black top, or in the grass, or on the concrete.” 

 

Now a member of Scouting America Troop 732 in Frankfort, the 16-year-old Lincoln-Way East junior decided to change that with her Eagle Scout Project. 

 

“With Rogus having that enclosed courtyard, I thought it would be great to have a nature setting for a seating area,” said Bonovich. 

 

She began brainstorming Eagle Scout project ideas about a year and a half ago before settling on creating an outdoor classroom space at Rogus. She presented her idea to Principal Colin Bradley in 2023 to get approval, then presented it to her Boy Scouts of America Council to get their green light. 

 

After researching, planning, and ordering materials for her project, Bonovich began physically building it in June. It took about a month to make the table and benches, and to paint and seal the 12 mushroom stools. 

 

Using her leadership skills to recruit friends to help paint and seal the mushrooms, Bonovich provided a sample to show them her vision and technique, then worked alongside them to complete the work. Because there were so many pieces and some of them were heavy, she also recruited friends to help deliver the items to the school and set them up. She even asked them for feedback and ideas for the layout of her project in the courtyard. 

 

“Lily's Eagle Scout Project has had an immediate impact on the useability of our outdoor greenspace. Classes have already enjoyed outdoor instruction with her functional and fun tables and seating,” said Bradley. “This was a wonderful idea, and the culmination far exceeded our expectations. We look forward to using this space for many years to come!”

 

Bonovich, who lives in Tinley Park, began her Scouting career in second grade as a Girl Scout. When the Boy Scouts of America began accepting girls into the program in 2019, she participated in both for two years before her Girl Scout troop disbanded during the COVID-19 pandemic. She then decided to focus on BSA. 

 

Now known as Scouting America, only 5 to 6 percent of Scouts rise to the rank of Eagle Scout, and of those only 2.5 percent of Eagle Scouts are female. 

 

“I think having that accomplishment of Eagle Scout would be amazing because it shows the leadership that I was able to give and shows that I was able to lead a team to get a project like this done,” said Bonovich. “Seeing my friends get Eagle, they were my role models, and now with me getting Eagle, I hope to be like that to younger Scouts like they were to me.” 

 

Bonovich, who comes from a Scouting family, will become the third local girl to become an Eagle Scout. She has earned 47 badges and six awards, and has traveled all over the country from West Virginia to Colorado to Florida for Scouting jamborees and leadership conferences. She is also a member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s National Honor Society, as well as Venturing, a Scouting program that focuses on adventure, training, leadership, and personal growth. She was recently elected Vice-Chief of Programming for the OA Lodge, where she will be responsible for planning more than a half dozen major events for hundreds of participants. 

 

At Lincoln-Way East, Bonovich is a member of the Interactive Club, which does volunteer work. She also plans to join the school’s new American Sign Language Club this year. 

 

As a senior patrol leader in her troop for the past year, she also plans a weekly meeting as well as an annual camp out for 200+ people. Bonovich, who wants to leave the Midwest for college, plans to study hospitality and get into meeting and event planning. 

 

She also hopes to follow in her family footsteps and become a Scouting leader someday.

 

Written by Marianne Ryan | Published 9/19/24

 

 

Ed Fitzgerald took his first trumpet lessons as a student at Frankfort Square School. 

 

Now in his first year as the Beginning Band Director at Hilda Walker Intermediate School, Fitzgerald has returned home to Summit Hill School District 161. 

 

Fitzgerald grew up in Frankfort Square and attended Frankfort Square School through fourth grade, taking his first trumpet lessons with Miss Luce, now known as Mrs. Coughlin. The Summit Hill Junior High band director, now in her 42nd year of teaching in SHSD161 schools, remembers his days as a student.

 

“Even from the beginning, he was very earnest,” remembers Coughlin. “Some kids were goofy and just wanted to honk on the instrument, but he took it seriously. He was the one that always came prepared. He was the one that would always be at rehearsal and never missed. He always gave 100 percent.”

 

Fitzgerald attended a parochial school for fifth grade and the first half of sixth grade before returning to Summit Hill Junior High, then housed in what is currently known as the Mary Drew Administrative Center. He later attended the Lincoln-Way East Campus for his freshman and sophomore years, and Central Campus for his junior and senior years.

 

Always a good student who loved band, Fitzgerald began his college career as a pre-med student at the University of Chicago, forsaking time spent playing his trumpet for his studies. He finished his freshman year but decided mid-way through that music was where he wanted to be. 

 

“I missed band so much,” remembered Fitzgerald, who lived for marching band while in high school. “That was the defining moment for me. The sun came out and I realized that this is what I’m supposed to do. I wanted to teach, and I wanted to be a music teacher.”

 

Fitzgerald transferred to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree. He then taught fourth through eighth grade band at LaGrange Highlands School for four years. While there, he also completed a master’s degree program in Music Education at Northwestern University while volunteering to teach high school marching band during the summers. 

 

By the summer of 2005, he was wearing thin. 

 

“I was feeling burned out, and I missed trumpet,” said Fitzgerald. “Because I was teaching fourth through eighth grades, my focus was on what seemed like everything but trumpet, and I really missed it.”

 

“I was thinking about the military because I have a lot of military in my family,” added Fitzgerald. “My grandfather was in the Navy during WWII, my dad was in the Army in Viet Nam, and a younger brother was in the Navy. Plus an uncle and a cousin were in the Army, another uncle and a cousin were both in the Marines, and yet another cousin was in the Coast Guard. There was something about the military that was calling me to it, and I was trying to discern how to do that – or if should I do it. I was 28 going on 29 so if I was going to do it, it was going to be then.”

 

Fitzgerald decided to take a sabbatical from teaching and walk a different path for a while, auditioning to play trumpet in the United States Navy. He was accepted, enlisted soon after, and was in boot camp that December. He spent five years playing trumpet in the Navy Fleet Band Program, traveling the world to perform. 

 

“It was a chance to step away, but also to redevelop my love of playing and making music again,” reflected Fitzgerald, who now plays cornet – a slightly shorter, more mellow-sounding version of the trumpet – for the Chicago Brass Band. “I was able to serve my country while making great music with some incredible people in some amazing places. It was a fantasy.”

 

Fitzgerald did well, being promoted to the rank of Petty Officer Second Class during his time in the Navy.

 

“But I always viewed it as a sabbatical – a time away from teaching – and ultimately, I felt called back to the classroom,” recollected Fitzgerald. “When I had all but decided to come back to teaching, I was on leave and home visiting my family in Frankfort Square and I reached out to Mrs. Coughlin. We had coffee and talked about me coming back into teaching and she shared some of her experiences.” 

 

“I don’t remember my words or advice exactly, but I remember saying you’ve got a gift at doing this and if you find the right place, you can make an impact. It’s amazing now he’s here,” said Coughlin. “He always appreciated music for music’s sake. Some kids are in band for the social aspect, and some kids were in it because their parents made them, but he was always in it because he wanted to play, and he wanted to be the best he could be.”

 

After leaving the Navy, Fitzgerald taught middle school band in Steger for 11 years before returning home to Summit Hill this summer. 

 

“It really hit home during the interview process when I was sitting in the office of the superintendent because I was sitting not only in the old building, but I was not far from where the band room used to be when I started, so I had goose bumps while I was sitting there,” recalled Fitzgerald. “It really hit home then, and it was reaffirming. This was the right decision in every way. This is the way it’s supposed to go.”

 

“That beginning band director job is such an important position,” added Coughlin. “If you don’t have someone starting them right, it’s a mess. You need someone who can really connect with kids, and he always did. I was so glad to see him wanting to bring that here. It’s a perfect fit for him coming back home, and I’m just so glad he’s here.”

 

“Seeing the light turn on when they finally understand a concept, or how to read music, and it all comes together – seeing that happen in kids is awesome and that’s what I love so much. And that’s what I ultimately missed,” said Fitzgerald. “And now that my focus is solely on teaching beginners, it’s my dream job! Seeing them go from squeaks and squawks to actual notes and songs is just the best!”

 

Written by Marianne Ryan | Published 12/1/22 

 

 

Indian Trail School first grade teacher Amanda Rudofski is living the dream. 

 

When she attended Summit Hill schools including Indian Trail as a student, Amanda was into commercials and envisioned a career in advertising. However, after earning a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Marketing from DePaul University, the Frankfort native took a job as a pricing analyst at Illinois Tool Works. 

 

Rudofski went on to earn an MBA in Strategic Management from DePaul while working in finance and supplier negotiations for the local automotive manufacturing company. As one of the company’s employees, she would visit Summit Hill schools as part of the Junior Achievement program that allowed her to teach commerce-related lessons to grade school students. 

 

“I realized through that Junior Achievement program how much more rewarding the field of education would be,” said Rudofski. “I was excelling at my job - I was doing great and I did enjoy it - but it wasn’t intrinsically satisfying to me.”

 

After five years, she knew it was time to follow her heart and make a change. 

 

“I loved that program so much and it made me realize that I really had a passion for teaching,” said Rudofski. “I was fortunate to have a great support system around me. Everyone said follow your dreams, so I did. I’m so glad that I was able to make that full circle back to home.”

 

Rudofski returned to school, earning her master’s degree in teaching from Olivet Nazarene University. Shortly after earning her degree, she was hired by SHSD161 as an FMLA substitute at Dr. Julian Rogus School for the 2009-10 school year. 

 

Rudofski took some years off to be home with her daughters, returning to teaching as an FMLA substitute again, first at DJR in 2016 and then at Indian Trail in 2017. In 2018, she was offered her dream job, a full-time teaching position at Indian Trail School.

 

“When I got hired full-time, I was beyond excited because it was perfect,” reflected Rudofski. “It was the most amazing feeling to be hired by the district that I once attended.” 

 

“I have so many memories from being a student here, going all the way back to third grade and my teacher Mrs. Kohlbacher,” said Rudofski. “She was absolutely amazing. She had a way of making every student feel so loved and so important. Lessons were fun and engaging, and third grade was my best year of school ever with Mrs. Kohlbacher!”

 

“I actually went back to her later in life as an adult to talk to her when I decided to switch my career from finance to teaching,” added Rudofski. “I wanted her opinion, and we had a great conversation about it. She was an inspiration to me then, and she still is now.” 

 

“She reached out to me when she was considering changing careers and I remember thinking it was a natural choice for her,” said Pamela Kohlbacher, who worked in Summit Hill schools for more than 30 years as a teacher and building administrator before serving one term on the school board in retirement. “She had been the kind of child that you think could become a teacher because of the way she viewed school and because of the way she worked so hard at school, so I was not surprised that she was making that career choice.”

 

“I will say I was somewhat surprised in thinking that she was going from what was probably a pretty good paying position to one that might not be so much,” laughed Kohlbacher. “But you’ve got to love what you do. And when former students come back to this district and want to make a career here, I think it speaks volumes for the experiences that they had while they were here as students.” 

 

“It’s so great to be a part of this district and to have a positive impact on the kids that I deal with every day, just like Mrs. Kohlbacher had that positive impact on me that I still remember to this day,” said Rudofski. “I loved my teachers as a child, and I truly believe we have a lot of amazing people teaching here now. They always put students first. I felt that as a child attending these schools and I still feel it now as a teacher working with my own students.” 

 

“Teaching at my old school really is a dream come true,” reflected Rudofski, now in her eighth year of teaching. “I feel my commerce experience made me the teacher I am today so I wouldn’t change that. I think it brought a lot of great things to this career for me. But I’m so grateful to be back here and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

 

Written by Marianne Ryan | Published 10/4/22 

 

 

Leah Fischer always wanted to be a teacher.

 

Growing up in Frankfort Square, the former Summit Hill School District 161 student would play school with teacher’s edition textbooks given to her by her dad’s girlfriend at the time, who was a teacher.

 

“I had a little chalkboard, and I would set it up and be the teacher,” said Fischer. “I can honestly say that I always wanted to be a teacher.”

 

“There was a brief hiatus when I wanted to be a marine biologist, but then I decided I would rather be a teacher and teach about marine biology,” laughed Fischer.

 

Now entering her 15th year as a teacher in the Summit Hill district, the sixth-grade math teacher at Hilda Walker Intermediate School reflects on a career that has come full circle in many ways.

 

“One thing I will always value is the community that makes up this district,” said Fischer. “This is home to me. I grew up here. I know the community. I support the community. To have influence in this capacity here means more to me than I can explain.”

 

Fischer attended Arbury Hills School in Mokena for first through fourth grades before attending fifth grade at Summit Hill Junior High, then housed in what is currently known as the Mary Drew Administrative Center on Spruce Drive in Frankfort. At that time, Arbury Hills, Frankfort Square and Indian Trail were the only elementary schools in the district. Dr. Julian Rogus School, Hilda Walker Intermediate School and the new Summit Hill Junior High School on North Avenue were yet to be built.

 

When Hilda Walker opened in 1996, Fischer was a member of the first sixth grade class to attend school there before returning to the junior high for seventh and eighth grades. She was also a member of the first graduating class from Lincoln-Way East High School after the Lincoln-Way central and east campuses were split into two separate four-year high schools in the early 2000s.

 

“I certainly experienced my fair share of transitions amongst the schools, not only in this district, but at Lincoln-Way as well,” said Fischer. “But I truly had such a great experience growing up here. I had great friends. I had supportive teachers. I would say if I could take anything away from my experience, it would be the people.”

 

One of the most influential people in Fischer’s life at that time was Christine Cialdella (now Veverka), her teacher for fifth and sixth grades.

 

“My favorite teacher was Miss Cialdella,” recalls Fischer. “She was the one that always had the right things to say. She was always that caring, nurturing, but also sarcastic - appropriately sarcastic - person that just seemed to get along with everybody. She helped me get through a lot of tough times. She was very comforting in the sense that she was just there. She was always there.”

 

“She is one of my best friends now,” added Fischer. “Of all the things I remember from being in her class, I will never forget the 'Box of Doom'. This was quietly placed on a student’s desk as a reminder to stop disruptive behavior, and in the box was an extra homework assignment. Luckily, you had the opportunity throughout the day to have the box removed.”

 

“Leah was always respectful and smart - just an all-around great kid,” said Veverka, who no longer teaches and now works as an administrative assistant in the Foundation office at Joliet Junior College. “If the 'Box of Doom' ever landed on her desk, it didn’t stay there for long.”

 

“I was lucky enough to have Leah in my class for two years in a row, and we just hit it off,” reflected Veverka. “And we just continued to keep in touch over the years. She used to babysit my kids, and now my girls babysit her kids. I just adore Leah. She enriches and blesses my life, and she’s like a big sister to my daughters. We have a beautiful friendship that has really blossomed over time. She’s like family now.”

 

Now in her 15th year of teaching, to Fischer, it is still all about the relationships.

 

"Teaching is about building the relationships with students that encourage them to want to learn. Building relationships and teaching them that it’s ok to make mistakes, it's ok to fail. At the end of the day, we’re all learning,” explained Fischer. “If this all came naturally and easily, then I would not have a purpose. And I had such influential teachers, so if anything, that’s what I want to be for my students.”

 

Fischer, who has spent her entire career teaching at Hilda Walker, earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from Eastern Illinois University and her master’s degree in Education from Concordia University.

 

Written by Marianne Ryan | Published 8/23/22