Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com • Saturday, February 28, 2015
| EVERYDAY HEROES
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WENDY ROLLIE
Johnsburg Jr. High teacher goes above, beyond to be there for students By JAMI KUNZER jkunzer@shawmedia.com
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Wendy Rollie has been teaching at Johnsburg Junior High School for more than a decade and started a mini-course called “Paying it Forward” in which students pick a project to help out every semester.
Inside and outside the classroom, Johnsburg Junior High School students know Mrs. Rollie. If she’s not teaching them, she’s coaching them or stopping by one of their extracurricular activities to cheer them on. To Wendy Rollie, teaching is about being there for students. “It’s not just an open-door policy, it’s an open-life policy,” said Rollie, who’s taught in Johnsburg for 13 years, having gone to school there herself from seventh grade through high school graduation. Rollie went on to earn her teaching degree at Illinois State University, knowing all along she’d want to return to her hometown, where she and her husband, Jeremy, are raising 1-year-old Linkin. “It’s just a small, kind community, and I wanted my kids to grow up here,” she said. Her devotion to Johnsburg, especially the youth, and her upbeat personality are what earned her an Everyday Hero nomination from fellow Johnsburg Junior High School teacher Kolin Harbecke.
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