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New Teachers
September 8, 2017
prospectornow.com
Great start for Gibbel
Cirrincione teaches, travels BY AYSE ELDES Copy Editor
BY AMANDA STICKELS Online Editor-in-Chief
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ever in a million years did Prospect’s new Spanish teacher Christopher Cirrincione think he would be a high school teacher. Although he knew he wanted to work with kids, it wasn’t until high school that he decided on teaching in that setting, where he could specialize teaching in his favorite subjects: history and Spanish. “[I enjoy teaching because] I get to see a bunch of students and share something I’m really interested in and very passionate about,” Cirrincione said. Now teaching Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 at Prospect, Cirrincione is in his third year of teaching. He continues to coach the congressional debate team at Elk Grove High School, where he previously taught World History, Human Geography, U.S. History and Spanish. Although he later pursued Spanish after studying abroad in Spain, Cirrincione’s interest and focus in college was in European history. He often connects his passion for history to his Spanish classes by giving historical backgrounds to cultural lessons they have. When a teacher strongly recommended adding Spanish to his college experience, Cirrincione was changed by the six-months studying abroad. Already fluent in Italian, he took Spanish classes and earned his Spanish teaching certificate while staying with a host family in Spain. Currently, he is working toward his master’s degree in Spanish education. The experience also continued his love of travel, which has now taken him to 27 countries in total, having visited all continents other than Af- r i c a and Australia. Cirrincione caught
After graduating from Prospect in 2007, Special Education teacher Lindsay Gibbel knew she wanted to be a teacher. Gibbel participated in the Education Academy as a student, which allowed her some experience in teaching at local middle schools. This class evoked her love of teaching and, 10 years later, inspired her to return to Prospect as a teacher. “I had a great experience here while I was a student,” Gibbel said. “ I had great teachers while I was here. It was a fun experience … so I wanted to contribute back to the school.” Not only is she contributing back to the school as a teacher, but Gibbel also coaches tennis, basketball and badminton — all of which she participated and had success in as a student. During her time at Prospect, she helped the tennis team win a sectional title, became an all-conference and all-area basketball player and won the state championship in badminton singles. Now as a teacher, she works with some of her former coaches and teachers, who Gibbel said have been role models to her. She is excited to pass on to her students the values and positive experiences they have given her. “This is where my home is,” Gibbel said. “I have so much pride for this town and this school, everything about it, the kids that are here and the staff here. I had the opportunity to come back and apply for a position, and it was a no brainer.”
GONE GLOBAL: Cirrincione takes a selfie with his family in Greece during a trip in 2015. He has now been to 27 countries. “I do love a good selfie stick,” Cirrincione said. the “travel bug” in high school when he joined a travel group for a five-week trip to Eastern Europe. His favorite countries to visit are Spain and Italy, primarily because he can speak the languages. In addition, Cirrincione enjoys visiting family in Italy, describing it as “a little bit like going home.” Cirrincione also brings his love of travel into the classroom by bringing pictures and videos from countries he teaches about, such as Peru and Machu Picchu. Currently, Cirrincione’s favorite thing to do when traveling is trying new food. He recently traveled with his family to Prague over the summer, where they tried a cuisine presentation with different courses of food. “I like that there’s always something new to do and something to find,” Cirrincione said. “If you don’t travel, it’s harder to get out of your bubble.
When you travel you force yourself out of your bubble, and you try different activities and foods and you meet different people.” In addition to his peculiar Diet Coke addiction, Cirrincione’s color-coded teaching system gains attention from coworkers and students. Each course has a different color assigned, and each unit has a different title font and color. Cirrincione has his students adjust their folder colors in Notability according to his color system. So far, the beginning of the year has gone smoothly. Cirrincione highlights a notable first impression from Prospect as a whole. “When this opportunity came up, I was very excited for the ability to come here,” Cirrincione said. “It’s been an easy transition because of that. Not only that, but the students are so nice, flexible when I’m s t i l l learning the ins and outs of Prospect. It’s really been great.”
Tole talks love of math BY AYSE ELDES Copy Editor
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Baker roams back to Prospect halls BY NICHOLES SCHAUER Executive Visuals Editor Life Studies teacher Marie Baker grew up with and graduated from the same elementary and high schools as Lindsay Gibbel, Scott Winters and Robert Riebel: all three of which are also members of Prospect’s teaching staff. A 2006 graduate of Prospect High School, Baker will be joining the teaching staff of Prospect for the 2017-18 school year. This
Nelleson back in choir room BY NICHOLAS EGEA News Editor Choir director Jeffrey Nelleson returned to what made his own experience at Prospect unforgettable: show choir, various musicals, drumline, orchesis and a play. He attributes his ability to connect to his students to his past experience in the same activities. After Prospect, Nelleson studied Music Education at the University of Illinois before beginning his teaching career at Addison Trail High School. Nelleson still teaches at Addison Trail but comes to Prospect after school to direct the choir. The beginning of his Prospect involvement had been better than he expected. Nelleson feels at home when he steps into the band hallway. “It has always been my dream to be a show choir director,” Nelleson said. “Having the same passion as the kids always helps.”
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will be the sixth year of her teaching career. Baker graduated from Eastern Illinois University, a school which she attended for their coveted basketball program. Certified in Consumer Sciences, Baker will be teaching Foods 1 and Foods 2 as well as co-sponsoring FCCLA with Amy Collins and coaching girls’ basketball. It was Baker’s own Prospect teachers that inspired her to pursue a career as a high school educator. Baker spends time outside the classroom traveling and has seen a long list of distant places such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, New York, Paris and London. She’s excited for her first year. “I had such great experiences with them,” Baker said. “I think it’s going to be a great year.”
Prospect High School welcomed a total of 19 new additions to staff this year. To read more about our new staff, go to...
Irish dancing has topped the list of unique talents for math teacher Katina Tole, who has Irish danced for 17 years. Starting at five years old, Tole continued to dance in college and after graduating from Loyola in 2016, she didn’t want to take any chances. After assistant teaching in Niles last year, she applied to as many openings she could find. Her interest in teaching began in sixth grade, when she was inspired by her math teacher’s ability to connect class material to the real world. Tole is now teaching math at Prospect, where she is also assistant coaching Orchesis and dance team. “Once I got into [Prospect’s] atmosphere I just love how it was very close and everyone cared. … It’s a team effort,” Tole said.
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Rebecca Schilz becomes third girls’ athletic director in school history. To read more, turn to... Page 11
Science classes welcome Mathews BY NICHOLES SCHAUER Executive Visuals Editor Although new to Prospect High School for the 2017-18 school year, science teacher Geraldine Mathews has been teaching for 13 years. For 11 of them, Mathews had taught at Palestine High School and Francis Parker Middle School, Chicago. After taking a break from teaching for six years, she became a resource assistant at Wheeling High School. This year, Mathews will
return to the classroom once again. Mathews first majored in chemistry and aspired to do environmental work. However, in her junior year, she began tutoring middle school students and discovered a hidden passion for the art of teaching. “I really liked helping them see what was going on in science and seeing that light bulb all of a sudden go off in their brain,” Mathews said. In 1998, Mathews went on to earn a teaching degree at Northwestern Universi-
ty, a school which she attended due to its unique study of both the urban and suburban teaching environments. Mathews will be teaching Physics and Chemistry at Prospect. Outside of the classroom Mathews enjoys reading, dance classes, yoga and spending time with her family. She also resides within the Prospect area. “If you see me at Costco or Target, don’t be afraid to say ‘hi,’” Mathews said.