Q: What’s your name?
A: Grace Lueken
Q: What’s your position at Central?
A: I am a US History teacher and a World Cultures teacher here.
Q: What did you do before coming to Central?
A: I was a student here and after I graduated in 2021, I went off to Loyola University Chicago and did four years being a double major in secondary education and history.
Q: How do you plan to enhance the subject you teach in/how will you get kids engaged in what you are teaching?
A: I love to do a student-centered lesson, getting students engaged, up in the classroom, working together, talking about things as much as I possibly can. I think knowing what it’s like to be a student here really helps me be able to find creative ways to get [students] more involved.
Q: What type of classroom environment do you bring to the table?
A: I really look to make sure that every single student knows that they can bring their own personality into the classroom, that they can share their opinions, hopefully in a safe and respected environment. I do this every day. We’ll try to open up with a daily question to get students talking about something fun, at least before we dive into something more serious.
Q: What is your favorite thing about teaching?
A: I love the daily interaction with students. You all make all of our days so much more fun, and when you’re excited to come in or just tell us something random, those are the parts that I really enjoy.
Q: What made you choose Central?
A: I absolutely love the community. I think I benefited a lot from being a student here, from the teachers, from the staff, from being involved in activities, and so I wanted to come back to a place that I know really respected staff and appreciated them. It allowed them to be flexible and creative in classrooms and really encouraged that. I knew within the community that I could relate to students in a very personal way, and so just to give back the way they provided me with the future is something I’m really happy I get to do.
Q: What are you looking forward to this year?
A: I’m really looking forward to having an opportunity to be creative. Becoming a teacher you have to do student teaching, so this is my first time having my own classroom, so figuring out what that means for me and how every day can look a little bit different is very exciting.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I love to read, to be outside, to go hiking, and to travel. Usually, I’m not a person who likes to sit and stay in one spot for too long, so if I can be up and moving or socializing and seeing friends, that’s usually my goal.
Q: What extracurricular activities do you participate in or hope to participate in at Central?
A: As a student, I was on the swim team and the water polo program. I’ll be helping out with Model UN, but would love to hopefully get more involved with something in the aquatics world.
Q: How do you feel Central has changed since your time as a student?
A: I keep telling my students we never had this schedule. I ended here during covid, and so it was the hybrid schedule. There’s been a lot of changes since then about how things are run, but it’s pretty similar to how I remember.