Ben Graeber
Ben works at Hazen High School just outside of Seattle in the suburb of Renton, WA and says, “I am finishing my 8th year of teaching English and journalism. I am currently working on my master's degree in Language, Literacy, and Culture at The University of Washington." updated 4-30-07
MJ Lester
After graduating MJ spent a year in Chicago working for an agency that serves abused and abandoned teens. She says, "I missed the west coast so much that I decided to move back to Oregon in August, 2000. I briefly worked in a day treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children between the ages of 3 & 13 years. In December, 2000, I got my current position as a Family Advocate for Head Start. I have since decided that preschoolers are my favorite. I spend a lot of time in the classroom working with the children, but I also do a lot of visiting with the families in their homes and helping them accomplish their goals. I have also spent several summers teaching for a summer school program that works with preschool children who have special needs."
Steve Mrizek
Steve has been teaching the last six years at Rockford Auburn H.S. in Rockford, IL, where he taught Social Studies the last 4 years and has done some work as an in-school suspension instructor and math tutor. Steve is beginning his 5th season as the Head Baseball Coach and has coached boy's basketball the past 6 years. Steve says, "I have been lucky to teach in the Rockford Public Schools. Sometimes people think that inner city schools are tough places to teach, but I have found them to be extremely fun. It is not conventional by any means, but you get a lot of leeway as to how and what you teach."
John Rodgers
John began teaching English at Harvard High School in Harvard, IL in the spring of 2000. The following fall he began teaching at Johnsburg High School where he has been ever since. John writes, "In the fall of 2004, I became the English department chair and have had to mentor five new teachers during the year. In December of 2004, I wrapped up my master's degree in Education from St. Xavier University. Besides teaching, I have also been involved in coaching. At Harvard I coached freshmen softball. At Johnsburg I coached freshmen football for four years and have coached sophomore baseball for all five years. On a personal note, I've been married to Shelly (Kuechel) Rodgers since June 2001. She went to Beloit for one semester back in fall 1997. We have one child, Connor, who will be one year old on May 20, 2005. "
Michael Williamson
Mike is teaching high school English in Carpentersville, IL where he says, "I typically teach Junior and Senior level English, as well as a Conflict Resolution course -- I suppose they felt I was qualified to teach this course becasue I am alwyays causing conflict somewhere." He's been at Crown for four years now, and, in fact, just received tenure earlier this month. He says he thinks about Beloit and the things Prof. Darlington taught him at least once a week--no joke. In fact, he is teaching the Jorge Luis Borges story "The Library of Babel" which he first saw in one of her classes years ago. He is using it in conjunction with Chaim Potok's book, "The Chosen" ("it always provokes a pretty strong Socratic discussion," he says).