List of 15 members.

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  Mr.GabrielSkvor

  English Teacher
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  Ms.AnnaStaud

  English Teacher
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  Mrs.AyannaKing

  English Teacher

  Bio

  “My class is a verb,” says Mrs. Ayanna King, English teacher at Saint Ignatius College Prep. “That means when we’re in class, we all do something. We move. We listen. We discuss.”
  
  

  Mrs. King is the Chair of the English Department and her educational philosophy embodies the student-centered approach that resonates through the department. “Sure, I’m the teacher. But the class belongs to the students. Their perspectives and development are prioritized in my classroom.”
  
  

  Mrs. King’s ultimate goal is for students to master the vital skills they will need throughout their academic and professional careers. She understands that sometimes students struggle to read difficult texts or organize their writing. “But then, one day, a student will have an a-ha moment. Something clicks and their skills and confidence rocket up. I’ll see them next year or after they graduate, and I can tell they’re using what they learned to continue to succeed.”
  
  

  To see the lightbulb go off is the ultimate professional fulfillment for Mrs. King, whose dedication reaches beyond the classroom. She is an active leader and key voice in student organizations at Saint Ignatius. She co-leads BOSS, the Black Organization of Successful Students. The club is a gathering place for students that grows and empowers our Black community on campus.
  
  

  Mrs. King also founded the Step Club this year. She describes stepping as a rhythmic group dance popularized by black fraternities and sororities. Mrs. King became fascinated with stepping as a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority at the University of Indiana. “It’s an essential part of Black fraternity and sorority culture. I want to share stepping with the wider Saint Ignatius community to showcase Black culture and the diversity of the school.”
• 

  Ms.MeganDoherty85

  English Teacher

  Bio

  When she was considering high schools, her parents pointed her in the direction of Saint Ignatius College Prep. That guidance ultimately gave Megan Doherty ‘85 her life’s work.

  
  

  She says, “When I was a student here, I loved my English teachers. They were so impassioned by the literature they were sharing with us that I was going to be a high school English teacher…No question about it.”

  
  

  In her years on that path, Doherty, like the people who inspired her, has made sure to share her literary passion points. Her favorite book in the current curriculum is Voltaire’s Candide.

  
  

  “The students receive it well,” she says, “It’s a very good life lesson. You can spin out the end line, ‘We must cultivate our garden,’ in a number of ways.”

  
  

  One interpretation: Own your space. Doherty helps her students do that every day.

  
  

  She says, “I am most proud of the reflections my seniors make in their critical reading journal conferences, where they see their personal growth in reading and writing based on skill advice we adopted.”

  
  

  Doherty, who’s own children followed in her Ignatius footsteps, says the student who became the teacher is still learning at 1076 West Roosevelt Road.

  
  

  “My students teach me to view them as whole humans and not just English students…whole humans who need to be cared for.”
• 

  Mrs.CaraDoyle

  English Teacher & Head Girls Basketball Coach

  Bio

  Hang out in English teacher Cara Doyle’s family room, and you’ll see something on the bookshelves few people have: Two Emmy awards.

  
  

  Before her time at Saint Ignatius College Prep, Doyle was a long-format TV producer for ESPN. The statues that sit on her shelves with her kids’ little league and school trophies, honor her outstanding work on two separate sports series.

  
  

  It’s work that she says has real relatability to teaching - especially her journalism classes.

  
  

  “Working in journalism, there are so many skills you pick up that are transferable, including writing…In class, I tell my students how important it is to be accurate and factual. I help them discern how to read the news; how to become informed when everything seems like an opinion,” Doyle says.

  
  

  Her classroom experience actually has roots in the five years she and her husband spent in England. She taught media and English while she was there.

  
  

  After they returned to the United States, Doyle made her way to 1076 West Roosevelt Road. In 2012 she started coaching the Wolfpack. Having played basketball in college, she wanted to share that energy.

  
  

  “I think what I love about basketball is how I felt as a student in the gym,” says Doyle, “ I want our kids to have that same feeling. It’s a place where they can exhale and be themselves.”

  
  

  All the while she led our Girls Basketball program, Doyle knew she wanted to teach again, too. There was an opening in 2020. She applied. The rest is history, and she says she couldn’t be happier.

  
  

  “My biggest takeaway from being in the classroom is how amazing the students are. They bring value and depth and make you think…It’s a privilege to be on this part of their journey with them.”
• 

  Mr.ChrisHatem

  English Teacher

  Bio

  Chris Hatem knows the classroom experience matters.

  
  

  When he was a student at Whitney Young High School, he had an English teacher who was a Saint Ignatius College Prep alum. Hatem says that teacher was so engaging and compelling it made him explore literature as a passion. And now it’s his turn to inspire bright young minds.

  
  

  Hatem, who focuses on modernist British literature, says, “The similar joy I take in movies and music, I also get out of literature, being able to teach that to kids, and seeing them take joy in that.” He's been teaching at Saint Ignatius for more than a decade, and has much praise for the people who work alongside him.

  
  

  “I’ve never worked in a situation where every single member of a department…is a homerun hitter. It keeps you on your game.”

  
  

  Speaking of “game,” Hatem coaches freshman boys basketball, a sport he loves and played. He’s also a moderator for Club Vinyl which taps into music, another one of his joys. When he’s not on campus you might just find him playing the drums in his rented practice space.

  
  

  His message to students: Pursue passions and really make sure you don’t leave things on the table.
• 

  Mr.JohnHoarty

  English Teacher

  Bio

  Since his junior year in high school, John Hoarty knew he wanted to be a teacher.
  
  

  “I really admired the people who were teaching my classes,” says Hoarty. “And my parents thought it was a good profession, a worthwhile pursuit.”
  
  

  Hoarty attended Catholic schools all his life, which fueled his desire to teach at one.
  
  

  “My teachers at Creighton Preparatory School and Marquette University, many of whom were Jesuits, instilled in me a deep love for Jesuit, Catholic schools,” says Hoarty.
  
  

  His commitment to Catholic education ultimately led him to Saint Ignatius College Prep, where he formed a deep bond with the community.
  
  

  “Everyone relies on each other and deeply cares about one another,” says Hoarty. “We’re all here to ensure the well-being of our students.”
  
  

  He hopes the overall Ignatius experience will give young people here confidence to be comfortable with the unknown. He also hopes they know they’ve built skills to help them tackle life’s challenges, and that when they make a mistake, it’s an opportunity to learn.
  
  

  “Making errors is such a critical part of the process,” says Hoarty. “Students should never fear being wrong because their mistakes can put them on the right path.”
  
  

  Beyond the classroom, Hoarty has been involved in a variety of programs here at Saint Ignatius. He has served as a director for Kairos retreats, and he’s completed the Spiritual Exercises numerous times.
  
  

  One of his favorite Wolfpack memories: Leading a group of students on a service immersion trip to Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. The goal was to deepen their understanding of the situation at the U.S. - Mexico border.
  
  

  Hoarty hopes to continue accompanying students on retreats and social justice journeys because both are expressions of our Jesuit, Catholic mission.
• 

  Mrs.MargaretKelliher

  English Teacher

  Bio

  “Literature lights me up,” says Margaret Kelliher, English teacher at Saint Ignatius College Prep. “I have always appreciated the beauty of literature and making connections between stories and the world around us.”

  
  

  Ms. Kelliher’s mission at Saint Ignatius is to share her passion for literature with the school community and help develop young minds. “Teaching as a profession is the only thing that made sense to me,” she explains. “I have the privilege to work with students during a crucial age in their development when they are learning to become better human beings, developing critical thinking skills and preparing for adulthood.” She emphasizes that the word “human” is contained inside of “humanities,” highlighting how the subject can help us understand what it means to be human.

  
  

  Ms. Kelliher’s classroom is a dynamic and interactive setting. “I want to foster an environment where we can collectively grow our facility with the written word,” she says. “That means we have many discussion activities, peer reviews and opportunities to write and circulate around the room.”

  
  

  Ms. Kelliher’s engagement with the literary community extends beyond the classroom. She is an active writer who has published short stories, maintains a substack, belongs to the Catholic Writers Guild and is finalizing a Young Adult novel.
• 

  Ms.AliMeehan

  English Teacher

  Bio

  I was probably always interested in being a teacher -- I used to sometimes grade my teachers' spelling tests in middle school in order to avoid being forced to go outside for recess on really frigidly cold days -- but I think I first considered teaching as a career possibility during my senior year of high school in theology class when I realized I had an ability to help explain complex concepts to my classmates in a more digestible way than we were receiving in our classroom.

  My favorite thing about teaching high school is getting to see students grow and develop their own opinions as they prepare to enter the adult world. I believe these four years can shape the kind of person my students will be for the rest of their lives and the kind of difference they want to make in the world, and I love being a part of that collaborative meaning-making process.

  I am a big fan of the literary concept of 'liminal space' -- a physical sort of limbo space in which characters move from the real world to a world where the rules of society no longer apply in the same way. These forests, caves, wardrobes, train platforms, and all sorts of other 'in-between spaces' allow characters to grow into better versions of themselves, something I hope my students can do each day in our classroom space.

  I hope my students can leave my classroom with the ability to put their own views and perspectives 'on the backburner' so to speak, to see a problem or experience from someone else's point of view. Literature is a fantastic tool for allowing students to 'walk in someone else's shoes' for a little while, and I find it incredibly rewarding to see when students can engage with a text and start seeing the world around them a little differently as a result of that engagement. This is a life skill which involves both empathy and critical thinking, two things I hope my students can develop greater abilities in during our time in class together.
• 

  Mr.BrennanRoche

  English Teacher

  Bio

  When Mr. Brennan Roche worked in production on Chicago Med, he and his crew would frequently drive down Roosevelt Road. “Whenever we’d pass Saint Ignatius, I'd always look out the window and wonder to myself: what is it like in there?” Mr. Roche no longer has to wonder.

  
  

  Mr. Roche’s professional experiences before Saint Ignatius all tie back to one area: acting. “I studied theater at Loyola Marymount and the stage has defined so much of my life,” he says. After graduating college, Mr. Roche acted in theatre, film, and television, taught acting at Piven Theatre in Evanston, and worked crew on various Chicago film sets before attending graduate school at DePaul University and becoming a teacher.

  
  

  As an English instructor, Mr. Roche sees his experience as an actor as a vital part of his pedagogical ability. “As an actor, I am able to not just understand a diverse range of characters and viewpoints, but to really inhabit them,” he says. “That compassion for diverse characters and perspectives is something I really want to impart on my students.”

  
  

  Mr. Roche is one of the many teachers at Saint Ignatius College Prep who has benefited from a Jesuit education. Being a graduate of Loyola Academy and Loyola Marymount University, made teaching at Ignatius something of a homecoming. “A Jesuit school is a home setting to me,” he shares. “Like starting the day in prayer: That is something that each school I’ve attended has done that grounds everyone's experience in the Catholic faith and makes me feel like I am in my home.”
• 

  Ms.WendySchmiedeler

  English Teacher
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  Ms.KathleenShapiro

  English Teacher

  Bio

  Ms. Kathleen Shapiro knew she wanted to be an English teacher since she was a junior in high school. “I was always drawn to stories and the written word, and I knew that I wanted to bring that passion to the next generation of students,” she says.

  
  

  Ms. Shapiro’s English classes focus on teaching four crucial skills: reading, writing, thinking and communicating. “I want to teach students how to effectively formulate and share their ideas, and to also be receptive to new perspectives,” she says. Students in her class learn listening skills and an emphasis is placed on fostering an environment where every student is heard and respected.

  
  

  Ms. Shapiro teaches World Literature to freshmen and American Literature to sophomores, and says that her favorite book to teach each year is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. “The Great Gatsby is a core text to understanding American culture,” she explains. “My understanding of the text deepens and evolves each year as I continue to discuss the book with students and colleagues.”

  
  

  Outside of the classroom, Ms. Shapiro co-moderates the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, a service club committed to living the Ignatian call to service by working with grammar school students, elderly folks, and other vulnerable groups. “Jesuit teachings are baked into the community at Saint Ignatius, and service is one of the core tenets of Jesuit faith,” she shares. “I want to give students who feel the call to serve a method to help their community beyond their required volunteer hours.”
• 

  Mr.DouglasStraka

  English Teacher

  Bio

  Mr. Douglas Straka’s grandfather graduated from Saint Ignatius College Prep in 1938, and many of his family members are educators. So, teaching at Saint Ignatius is a continuation and cross section of family traditions.

  
  

  Mr. Straka, who has taught British and World Literature at Saint Ignatius for eleven years, emphasizes the importance of the school’s culture in his classroom’s collective mindset: “We encourage continued reflection at Saint Ignatius,” he says. “Everyone wants to be perfect on the first try, but we almost never are. Our students and faculty embrace the process of continuously trying, learning and improving.”

  
  

  Mr. Straka describes his classes as “a good time, but focused” where the learning needs of different types of students are met. His favorite book to teach is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in his Brit Lit class for Juniors. “Frankenstein has such rich characters and fascinating tragic heroes,” he explains. “Mary Shelley began that story when she was eighteen years old. I think reading it encourages the students to explore their creativity.”

  
  

  Mr. Straka further encourages student creativity with Spirit, Saint Ignatius’ student newspaper which he moderates. Mr. Straka understands the importance of journalism and reporting skills: he majored in journalism in college and worked for various publications before becoming a teacher. “Spirit is a great way for our students to understand the process of where news comes from and to challenge themselves to write thoughtful stories,” he says. “With Spirit, students can share their passion for the wide range of activities that happen at Saint Ignatius with their peers.”
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  Ms.RachelTurkowski

  English Teacher
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  Mr.MichaelVermylen

  English Teacher