Back to School: When LFHS Alumni Return to the Classroom

By David A. F. Sweet

How many high-school friends end up teaching together – at the same high school they graduated from?

Meet Julie Crouch and Carolyn Konz. Friends since fourth grade, both graduated from Lake Forest Community High School in 1993. Soon after college, they both returned to LFHS as teachers. But that’s not all: for the past dozen or so years, they have even co-taught an English class for sophomores, featuring books such as The Crucible and The Catcher in the Rye.

 Alumni Julie Crouch (left) and Carolyn Konz enjoy being back in the classroom.

“It’s so different being on the other side,” said Crouch, who is also a special education instructor. “I was goofy as a student. This is my redemption. I want to walk away and say I left the school better than it was.”

No national data is available revealing how many teachers were previously students at the same high school. What is known is that both teachers who are alumni and the students they instruct enjoy a number of benefits, which range from the ability to tap institutional knowledge, understanding how busy students are inside and outside the classroom, and more.

“There’s a connection at a different level,” said Adam Mocogni, a math teacher who graduated from LFHS in 2007. “Every teacher was a high school student, but the fact that I can say, ‘I’ve been in your literal shoes’ carries a little heavier weight with them.”

“I get to see the other side of things as a teacher. I get to change them the way I would have wanted as a student and make their experiences as a student more special.”

Mocogni sees differences and similarities between what students experienced closer to the turn of the century and today.

“A lot of how I learned was lecture-based, but now teachers are letting students explore more,” he said. “Instead of me telling them about the relationships between angles and circles in geometry, there’s a teacher resource where students can move them around to see how they connect, so they can learn visually.

“The teachers then and now hold our students to a certain standard. It develops a drive within you to want to do well.”

Konz pointed out how that standard in the English Department influenced her when she was a student.

“They really challenged us, but I also felt nurtured and championed by them,” she said. “They told me I could write. It led me to pursue writing in college.

“I truly believe that we matriculate kids who have been exposed to writing in so many different ways. Now, former students tell me they’re proofreading all of their friends’ essays in college. They know how to do it.”

Lesley Fisher, head of the LFHS alumni board, is so pleased to see so many former students (including Stephen Van Nuys and Candice Kloss) return to the school as teachers.

“It’s a beautiful way to give back,” she said. “They were fortunate to have the benefits of going to LFHS – the academics, the general interest teachers have to see kids succeed.

“Our alums who return to teaching, they dive into everything there.”

Confirmed Crouch, “We don’t put in our eight hours and walk away. We’ll go to the theater performance and other activities. It’s important for students to see us supporting them.”

Crouch and Konz are both raising their families in Lake Forest (Konz has one child at the high school now, while Crouch has a boy who is slated to be part of the centennial class in 2035).

“They didn’t want to live somewhere else and work here,” said Lake Forest Community High School Principal Dr. Erin Lenart, “It says a lot about the legacy here and what they experienced. It speaks volumes about this community and the quality of education given to them.”

And as much as has changed at LFHS since she was a student, Crouch is sometimes amused by what has stayed the same.

“There are still freshmen who walk around the Senior Star,” she said. “It’s funny what gets passed down.” This story was first published on the Lake Forest Community High School website.