Niles West has welcomed two new math teachers this semester, one being Kathleen Bressler. The arrival of 2024 marks her return to the classroom after 10 years. She previously taught for 15 years at schools all across the United States, stretching from Massachusetts, Florida and now Illinois. During her gap from teaching she occupied herself with one-on-one tutoring and caring for her two children.

Math wasn’t always a favorite subject for Bressler. She had originally intended to pursue a degree in construction engineering, but after disagreeing with the life conditions of engineers, she rediscovered the possibility of a profession in education, prompted by advice given to her as a teen.

“I didn’t like math until I was a junior in high school and had a teacher say ‘you’re kind of good at this stuff…  you might think about a career in math’, so I started looking at teaching and math as a career in engineering, but I realized this was not the lifestyle of what I wanted to be and it wasn’t something I was willing to do at that point in my life and decided to switch to education,” Bressler said. 

Before coming to West, she taught at private schools on the Atlantic Coast with smaller departments and has found the transition to public schools supportive and hospitable.

“My experience in teaching has been in independent schools and they tend to be much smaller so to be in a math department of 30 math teachers has been amazing because there’s so many people who are helpful and who I can bounce ideas off of and that’s great. I really like the fact that [us] teachers have a fantastic way to support students and it’s not just on one person,” Bressler said.

Bressler has over a decade’s worth of teaching experience and prides herself in being transparent towards her students. This knowledge has benefited the rest of the math department in enhancing West’s educational atmosphere.

“Mrs. Bressler is awesome, she’s a veteran teacher and anytime we can get someone who is smart and talented into our group, it’s a benefit for us and for the students. She strikes me as a really warm and genuine person, and I think anybody that acts that way with our kids is a benefit,” Director of Math Lucas Leavenworth said. 

Within her first week at West, Bressler has made a positive impression on her colleagues who are anticipating learning from her prior education experience.

“She is an experienced teacher [and] she’s going to bring us a lot of things that she knows from other schools and I’m expecting some new things that we didn’t try,” Math teacher Jasminka Jukic said.

A resident of many different states, Bressler notes Skokie’s diversity as an important factor for moving to the suburbs and has taken notice of the inclusive community at West.

“My husband and I moved to Skokie because we both grew up in towns that were predominantly white and [at college] I learned so much about diversity. It’s really awesome and there’s so much more than just what I grew up with in terms of culture, background and perspective. At West, it’s just an incredible place to learn to value all sorts of different cultures, experiences, languages and people,” Bressler said.

For now, Bressler remains teaching part-time in Algebra 1 and Pre-Calculus classes as she eases her way back into school regularity. She hopes to end the semester on a high note and wants her students to know she wishes for their success.

“I hope that students feel comfortable asking for help and saying I don’t know and that they don’t feel stupid or judged. I want them to know that I care about them more than I care about their math knowledge. The human part of life is so much more important to me than solving equations. I hope my students know that I’m here to help [and] I’m happy to do whatever I can to make their life better,” Bressler said.