For seven years, Niles West High School’s theater department has been shaped by passion, dedication and hard work. The face behind the program is Skokie’s very own Samuel Rosenfeld. With a love for the arts and a commitment to his students, Rosenfeld has been dedicated to creating a theater program that feels like home for all of its members. It was this reputation that earned him the prestigious David L. Zemsky Teacher of the Year Award, presented to one teacher each year based on student nominations and selection.

Rosenfeld went to Niles North High School and landed a student teaching job at Niles West in his senior year at Illinois State University, where he got his degree in theater education. During his years student teaching, Rosenfeld developed a tight-knit relationship with Andrew Sinclair, one of Niles West’s future assistant principals and former theater director. Sinclair acted as a mentor figure for Rosenfeld, and Rosenfeld eventually ended up taking over Sinclair’s position, giving Rosenfeld his current position of teacher and theater program director.

“I grew up working at a theater summer camp and I directed the program there for like seven years, and I really loved it, and I loved seeing the kids grow and how they absorbed and how they learned, and so that was really why I wanted to go into education originally,” Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld has been working in the district for seven years, traveling between Niles West and Niles North up until 2022, when he took over the theater program at Niles West when Sinclair became the director of the fine arts department at North. Rosenfeld teaches arts appreciation, theater workshop, acting, stagecraft, advanced theater studio, play production and directing. But his work doesn’t stop there; Rosenfeld stays after school daily, working with his theater students to perfect the five plays that they put on yearly.

“We put on five productions a year. I loved doing ‘Into the Woods‘ this year; it was our musical, and the story is really deep and emotional. One of my favorite plays we’ve done was actually my thesis project for my grad program, and that show was ‘A Kid Like Jake‘,” Rosenfeld said.

This year was Rosenfeld’s last year at Niles West and his last year being a teacher. He is relocating to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania later this year to pursue a career in clinical mental health counseling. Rosenfeld is getting married in the coming weeks, and his partner landed a job in Philadelphia, giving Rosenfeld the perfect opportunity to move on from education, something he has been considering for years.

“This was the right time for me to switch out of education. I’m going to do clinical mental health counseling because my favorite part of teaching is those one-on-one conversations with students where you really get to dig a little deeper and figure out how they’re doing emotionally and what’s going on in their lives,” Rosenfeld said.

Senior Camila Smith has been in theater for all four years of high school and can attest to how deeply Rosenfeld cares for his students.

“My favorite thing about Rose is how he makes everyone feel seen. That is not something everyone has, and not something to discredit, and he has it. It takes an incredible person to instill confidence in all he interacts with, and that is why I aspire to be like Mr. Rose,” Smith said.

Rosenfeld says that over his years teaching in District 219, he has, on multiple occasions, butted heads with administration. Despite this, he has worked to make a change in the district and has made the best out of his time teaching, but ultimately, he has decided that leaving teaching to pursue a different path is the best choice for him.

“I’m excited about transitioning [away from the administration], but leaving my students is so hard because I adore them and I have really really deep connections with my students, because I’m with a lot of them for four or five hours a day. It’s really really hard, but I think it’s the right thing for me and I know it’s the right thing for the program and the school,” Rosenfeld said.

One of the students with whom Rosenfeld has developed a deep relationship with over the past years is senior and president of the Thespian Society, Amelia Gottschalk.

“Amelia and I have had three years together where they’ve taken every theater class that we offer, and I don’t think I’ve ever had another student who’s taken every theater class I’ve taught. One year I had Amelia in three classes during the day and also after school, so I was spending seven hours a day with them, which was great,” Rosenfeld said.

Gottschalk is the International Thespian Society president, so they and Rosenfeld work very closely. Rosenfeld shared that Gottschalk acts as a speaker for the students of theater, advocating for the productions and space, and Rosenfeld takes their ideas into consideration when it comes to deciding how to structure the theater program and which shows to put on.

“Working with Rose has probably been one of the most important experiences in my life. He pushes his students and sees what they are capable of before they’re even aware that’s in them, and it’s just been excellent. Rose is also just someone who has an extremely developed artistic sense, and he approaches every show with a very sophisticated and very full-of-love perspective, which I just find really joyful,” Gottschalk said.

This fall, Gottschalk will be attending DePaul University in Chicago to study stage management, and Rosenfeld played a large role in helping determine the path of their studies.

“Rose has shaped me in a lot of interesting ways. There was a time when I would not have considered going into the arts, but with Rose’s help and mentorship […] I felt that I would be able to make it, as people say, and that’s been incredible. He even, outside of even my skills in theater, has allowed me to embrace the more complex parts of my identities and of my thoughts and feelings. Rose has been a very stable force in my life in the past three years, and he’s allowed me to grow into myself and have a lot of confidence and love for myself,” Gottschalk said.

Just like Gottschalk, many theater students say that Rosenfeld had a great impact on their high school lives. Senior Christel Moscardon has been involved in theater for four years and has formed a close relationship with Rosenfeld.

“Rose is an educator who cares about his students deeply, and it shows. I have had the privilege of being his student for the past four years and have been a part of many productions he has directed. He is a one-of-a-kind person, and I am so thankful to have had a teacher like him,” Moscardon said.

Outside of teaching, Rosenfeld enjoys the beach and swimming, pottery and spending time with his cats, Suki and Sylvia.