West Welcomes New Staff Members

Welcome to the new staff members of the new school year! 

Deandra Bass: Social Worker

• College education and previous education experience: Ms. Bass has been a social worker before, including working abroad. Ms. Bass got her degree at Illinois State and completed an internship at Glenbard North.
• On Glenbard West: Glenbard West. Ms. Bass likes the friendly environment of West, and it already feels like she has established a family here.
• The inspiration to become a social worker: Ms. Bass enjoys working in schools to promote education and finds it pleasing to work with students.

Tracy Dohrer: World Languages Department

• Classes: Spanish 2, Spanish 4, and a temporary Spanish 1 Class for Heritage Speakers.
• College education: Ms. Dohrer completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and has completed a graduate degree from University of Illinois at Chicago.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Dohrer has previously taught at Main West High School in Des Plaines for seven years. In addition, She has also tutored for ten years. Ms. Dohrer enjoys both very much, but as they are very different, so it is difficult to compare.
• Favorite language: Despite being a native English speaker, Ms. Dohrer’s favorite language to speak is Spanish, due to it sounding very pretty.
• Favorite country to live in: Ms. Dohrer would love to permanently live in Spain. She has previously lived there and has visited Spain multiple times and loves it there.
• Favorite Spanish subject: Ms. Dohrer enjoys the Spanish culture and food.

Kelly Egan-Pater: Special Education Department

• Classes: Special Education for Algebra, Geometry, and a Study Methods class.
• College education: Originally, Ms. Egan-Pater had a degree in elementary school education as well as math and science, but got an additional degree in special education.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Egan-Pater has taught for twenty years at Crete Monee High School and Evergreen High School. Although, Ms. Egan-Pater is considered to be a new staff member at Glenbard West, she has taught here since last October.
• Favorite subject: Ms. Egan-Pater loves math and considers it to be a strong subject for her.  She also enjoys science and has taught science before as well as English.

Allison Filipak: Special Education

• College education: Ms. Filipak attended Illinois State.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Filipak taught at Giant Steps, a school for students with autism, for three years.
• Teaching inspiration: Ms. Filipak volunteered in a high school that helped students with special education needs, and she had a lot of fun with the program. 

Alicia Hollander: English Department

• Classes: English 1 Honors and English 3.
• College education: Ms. Hollander graduated from a college in Venezuela for her undergraduate degree and Northwestern University for her graduate degree. Ms. Hollander has an additional degree in public relations. 
• Previous education experience: Ms. Hollander taught American Literature to seniors in her hometown of Venezuela for one year.
• Favorite novel: Ms. Hollander’s favorite novel is 100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez. If that seems too intimidating, Ms. Hollander also enjoys Bel Canto. 
• Favorite author: Gabriel García Márquez 

Amanda Minogue: Social Worker Intern

• Ms. Minogue meets with several students to have conversations, either scheduled or not, and helps them through any problems they may have.
• Inspiration: Ms. Minogue enjoys helping kids and has previously taught Special Education in DeKalb but decided to switch to help kids through social work. Ms. Minogue enjoys social work because of the many ways she can help students.  She is still a student at Aurora University and hopes to become a full-time social worker after her internship. 
• Favorite subject: Ms. Minogue enjoys science and taught science for four years.

Sydney Morse: Science Department

• Classes: Physics
• College education: Ms. Morse has studied both Calculus and Physics at IIT. However, Ms. Morse does prefer Physics more than Calculus.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Morse has taught Physics, Physics Honors, and AP Physics.
• Favorite Physics Formula: F=ΣMa.

Rachel Nolan: Math Department

• Classes: Algebra 1, Algebra Enriched, and Advanced Math Applications.
• College education: Ms. Nolan went to Miami University.
• Favorite class based off of material: Ms. Nolan prefers Advanced Math Applications.
• Favorite formula: Ms. Nolan’s favorite formula is I=Prt, as she is teaching finance.

Diane Robinson: English Department

• Classes: English 3 at Glenbard North and English 2 and Senior Composition at Glenbard West.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Robinson has taught before in California, where she also taught journalism. However, English is her first love.
• Favorite novel that she has taught: Ms. Robinson enjoys Lord of the Flies and is on board with an all female version of the novel.
• Favorite novel and author: Ms. Robinson’s enjoys John Steinbeck’s work, including Of Mice and Men, although East of Eden is her true favorite novel.

John Sigmund: Special Education Department

• Inspiration: After pursuing many careers from physical education to business, Mr. Sigmund believed it would be a rewarding and interesting challenge to pursue a special education career.
• Favorite subject: History is Mr. Sigmund’s favorite subject, including all genres of history, such as world history or European history.

Michael Souza: Dean

• College education: Mr. Souza completed his undergraduate at Illinois State and has completed his administrative master’s degree at Northeastern Illinois University.
• Previous education experience: Mr. Souza taught math for eight years before becoming a dean. However, math is not his favorite subject– physical education is. For the past five years, Mr. Souza has taught in the Directions Program in our district, where Mr. Souza realized he would like to become a dean and pursued the open position at Glenbard West.  Mr. Souza does miss the direct interactions with his students in the classroom.

Emily Trowbridge: World Languages Department

• Classes: Spanish 1 and Spanish 2.
• Previous education experiences: Ms. Trowbridge teaches the same classes at North, currently.
• Favorite part about Spanish: Ms. Trowbridge prefers the interactions with others and being exposed to another culture besides your own.
• Favorite Spanish unit: Ms. Trowbridge’s favorite unit is the fashion unit of Spanish.
• Favorite language: Ms. Trowbridge’s favorite language is Spanish, due to the way it sounds.
• Favorite country to live: Ms. Trowbridge would love to live in Spain, like Ms. Dohrer.
• Recommendations for Spanish students: Ms. Trowbridge wants her students to always speak the language, even if they believe that they are bad at it.

Rachel Urista: Math Department

• Classes: Algebra 2, Algebra 2 and Trigonometry, and Algebra 2 and Trigonometry Honors.
• College education: Ms. Urista is currently attending graduate school but has taken courses at eight colleges.
• Previous education experience: Ms. Urista has taught Algebra Intervention to College Algebra in several schools.
• Favorite class based off of material:  Algebra 2 and Trigonometry.
• Favorite formula: Ms. Urista’s favorite formula is the circumference of a circle because a lot of other formulas originate from that formula.

Robert Sanders: Social Studies Department

• Classes: World History Honors and US History.
• College education: Mr. Sanders had graduated from Creighton University.  Mr. Sanders chose to teach history because it is a story, not a date. “It is the best movie ever seen, except it is real,” Mr. Sanders said.
• Previous education experience: Mr. Sanders taught before in Nebraska for two years.
• Preferred historic figure to meet: Mr. Sanders would like to meet Voltaire, the French philosopher, due to the way Voltaire defined how nobility is earned and the way he writes.
• Favorite ancient civilization: A surprisingly easy question, Mr. Sanders’s favorite ancient civilization is the Romans, due to their work ethic.

Sarah Walsh: Psychologist Intern

• College education: Currently, Ms. Walsh is an intern. Ms. Walsh has already had her undergraduate and a master’s degree but is working on another master’s degree for education psychology.
• Reason to become a psychologist: Ms. Walsh loves both science and data, and being a psychologist helps Ms. Walsh pursue both of her passions.