The social studies department is losing two of its most seasoned teachers as Shaun Waldron and Scott Ackman are retiring this year. Waldron has taught at Niles West since the fall of 1995; she has taught Modern World History and AP Economics. Ackman has been working at Niles West since 1994 and has taught a plethora of classes in the social studies department and teaches ML (Multilingual Learners) U.S. History.

Waldron grew up in Oak Park and went to Oak Park High School. She then went to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for an undergraduate degree in economics and graduated in 1989. Waldron then went to Northwestern for her master’s degree in education after working at a law firm for a couple of years.

“I picked economics at the end of sophomore year because it allowed me to make a nice blend of economics and history,” Waldron said. “In order to understand economics, you have to understand the history and the politics of different countries. That major allowed me to embrace the two things that were the most interesting to me, which was the business side, which is the economics, and the history and the politics side of it.” 

Ackman grew up in Elk Grove and went to Illinois State University to become a math teacher but ultimately switched to history and graduated in 1991. He then went back to school at Northeastern Illinois University for his master’s in teaching in 1996.

Ackman always knew he was going to be a teacher but switched from math to history because history always came naturally to him.

“I’ve always enjoyed history; it’s always clicked for me,” Ackman said. “I think because it’s always repeating itself and you can learn so much from the past in order to fix the future.”

Ackman’s teaching style changed from mostly content-based to interactive-based after his switch to ML U.S. History.

“Before, I spent a lot of time doing textbook stuff and a lot of lecturing,” Ackman said. “Now it’s more of a lot of group work, student participation and discussion in classrooms. It’s changed quite a little bit.”

In 2005, Waldron had a student teacher who currently teaches at Niles West: Social Studies teacher Martin Zacharia.

“I really appreciate the opportunity to learn with her because I got the experience of starting a class and building those core relationships with my students from day one,” Zacharia said. “It was really through her encouragement that I had done that, and she prepared me for that experience.” 

Ackman was a coach for the freshman girls soccer team from 2022 to 2026. Senior Angelina Lee was one of the last group of players to receive his guidance her freshman year. She remarks that though he was hard on her sometimes, it ultimately made her a better player.

“For me, he had me play the same position as a defender, and he was hard on me. Sometimes, he’d be screaming at me, but it was good,” Lee said. “He taught me that having a good work ethic and having a good attitude can take you far, so I would like to say thank you for helping me develop into a varsity player.” 

Ackman and Waldron have known each other for as long as they’ve taught at Niles West and Ackman reflects on what he’s learned from Waldron.

“I’ve learned patience from her and a lot about economics,”  Ackman said. “I didn’t know anything about economics, but everything I’ve learned comes from her. I’ve actually even added that into all my U.S. history units, and I learned that from her years ago.”

Waldron has no set plans after retirement, but she hopes to eventually travel more.  Ackman plans to spend more time with his family, travel and continue coaching boys soccer at Loyola.