Unit 1 welcomes new teachers

The Unit 1 School District opened its doors this morning and is starting the year with a few new teachers.
Joining the faculty for the 2020 school year are seven educators including an industrial arts instructor, band director and kindergarten teacher.
BECKY BAJAT—Bajat is joining the intermediate school as a full-time teacher after serving in a part-time post at the school last spring.
Bajat will be teaching art and music to fourth and fifth graders. Her path into education began during her junior year at Ripon College where she taught art and found it exciting to see what her students created with her guidance.
She graduated from Ripon College with the class of 2019. After college she returned home to Coal City.
She is a Alpha Chi Omega alum, and notes she is an artist and photographer. She is a first place award winner in sports photography from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
She is the daughter of Phil and Nancy Bajat, sister of Natalie and is engaged to fellow Coaler alum, Drew Gernenz.
HOPE CONNELLY—Connelly is the new director of bands at the high school who said it is a dream come true to be back at CCHS.
Connelly graduating from CCHS in 2015 before attending McKendree University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education. She reports it was during her junior year of high school she knew she wanted to pursue a career in music and have the ability to teach the art to others.
Connelly resides in Coal City. She is the daughter of John and Krsiti Connelly, of Goose Lake, and sister of Rebecca and Kayla Connelly.
In her free time she enjoys riding horses, theatre, singing, playing instruments and spending time on the water.
KARI LUKANCIC—Lukancic joins the early childhood center staff as a kindergarten teacher.
Her path into education began with the film, “Matilda.” She said, “I thought Ms. Honey was the kindest teacher and I wanted to be just like her.”
Since earning her degree from the University of St. Francis, Lukancic has taught preschool, pre-kindergarten and first grade. However, her first teaching job was as a dance instructor, having taken dance classes for 16 years.
A resident of Channahon, Lukancic reports she enjoys photography, traveling and spending time with her family—parents, sister and niece.
SAM WURSTER—Wurster is the new industrial technology teacher at CCHS.
He comes to the school with three years of experience in technology education. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and a masters from Illinois State University.
Having attended high school with individuals who he said hated going to school, but loved their tech classes, Wurster wanted to become a teacher that made his students want to come to school.
Wurster, a resident of Wilmington, is engaged and has a golden retriever named Winston.
In his free time he enjoys Spikeball, mountain biking, snowmobiling, jet skiing and all sports. He notes he is an Eagle Scout.
MELISSA GEORGE—George is joining the high school special education department as a social studies teacher and will be coaching the sophomore girls basketball team this year.
Six years ago, George made a decision to change career paths to become a special education teacher.
“I chose the career path to help all types of learners exceed,” she said.
A new resident of Diamond, George has three children—ages 17, 15 and 13—and reports her youngest is looking forward to starting classes here.
George has a passion for art and woodworking, and enjoys being a part of community organizations and is looking forward to getting involved in the community.
RACHEL BJORKLUND—Bjorklund will teach physical education this year at CCHS and coach the freshman volleyball team.
She is a recent graduate of Illinois State University and completed student teaching at Mokena Junior High School.
She made the decision in college to enter the field of education to work a job that would impact people positively everyday.
Bjorklund, of New Lenox, enjoys hiking, traveling and overall just being active.
MATT PERRY—Perry will teach sixth and seventh grade math at CCMS.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Lewis University in air traffic control and this year obtained a masters in math education from Governors State University.
He previously served as a substitute teacher in various Grundy County Schools and last spring was a permanent substitute at Plano High School.
Substitute teaching was Perry’s first job after college, and he enjoyed it.
“I’m finally able to teach as a career. The personal fulfillment of helping children learn does not compare to anything,” Perry said.
Matt and his wife, Danielle, are the parents of two daughters, Autumn and Josie. They live in Diamond.
He enjoys all outdoor activities (minus lawn mowing and picking up after the family dogs) and all sports.
Although he grew up in Morris, he has a connection to the community having played youth football for the Coal City Miners.