Math teacher Robert Nortillo has been teaching at Niles West for 28 years. Out of college, he had a computer science degree and performed computer work for about eight years. Then, after receiving his teaching degree, he started working at Niles West, teaching computer science and math.

“I taught both of those subjects for eight years, and then we hired Mr. Fahrenbacher, who was actually very good at the computer science stuff, and computer science advances so quickly that he really was more up to date on computer science stuff than me,” Nortillo said.

For the past 20 years, Nortillo has solely been teaching math from Algebra 1 to AP Calculus, his favorites being Honors Geometry and Calculus AB. One of the reasons why he loves working at Niles West is the cooperation and sharing of resources and advice among the math department.

“At some other schools, teachers can be somewhat territorial. For instance, if someone has a course that they would like to teach, doggone it, they’re gonna teach that course forever, and nobody is going to take it away from them because it is theirs.”

However, the teaching environment is different at Niles West. In fact, when a new teacher received a poor schedule, the other math teachers offered to trade some of their courses to make it easier on him.

When he first became a teacher, Nortillo was also interested in coaching a sport, but the time commitment made it difficult.

“I have been all about athletics my whole life. As a young teacher who’s so busy trying to just learn how to teach, I didn’t really feel like I could afford the time to coach a sport. Then, two years into my teaching career, I started having kids of my own and then I didn’t want to coach a sport either. I don’t regret that because I love being home with my kids, but I did discover along the way that if I coached a math team, which I could certainly do, that would not take nearly as much time and that would be enjoyable.”

Currently, Nortillo plays competitive paddle ball and competes in ultimate frisbee during the spring, summer, and fall through a large ultimate frisbee organization in the Chicago area.

In addition to teaching math and playing sports, Nortillo enjoys reading nonfiction.

“I particularly like biographies or history, not just American history necessarily but the history of things, the history of computers, the history of business, those are things I like,” Nortillo said. “During the school year, I usually pile up a list of books that I want to read but I don’t have time to, and in the summer I spent a lot of my time reading.”

But more than playing sports and reading nonfiction, Nortillo enjoys helping students understand themselves. Throughout his years as a teacher at Niles West, the highlights of his career have been contributing to lasting change in students’ lives.

“It’s so common for a math teacher in particular to say, ‘You know when you’re working with a kid and trying to explain something to them, and then you see the light go on in their head all of the sudden, and they finally get it, I love that.’ Honestly, that’s not it for me. I mean, I do enjoy those moments, certainly, but they don’t stand out to me,” Nortillo explained. “The ones that stand out to me are the shocking, surprising things that students come up with, but also the moments that I really treasure are not when I can help a kid understand something about math, but when I can help a kid understand something about himself or herself. Those are way high moments for me, much bigger than learning math.”

As he worked at the Lit Center, he noticed incredible qualities of students that they often didn’t see in themselves.

“They are like unbelievably good tutors, and I have then talked with those kids after that and almost stuck my finger in their chest and said, ‘Do you have any idea how gifted you are at doing this? That was unbelievable. Nobody could teach you how to do that; you just have a gift, and it’s really going to go good for you in the future because you are so good at this, and maybe you should think about teaching as a career.’”

On multiple occasions, he has recognized outstanding qualities of students. In one of his stories, he explains that when students had the opportunity to choose who they wanted to sit by, many of them chose this one girl despite the fact that she wasn’t doing well in math.

One day, he walked up to her and said, “You know, when we were choosing seats, more people said they wanted to sit with you than anybody else in the room, and I think that says something really positive about you, and I think you have a really good future ahead of you because of that.”

Two years later, she used that interaction as the centerpiece for her college personal statement. She explained how she had a low opinion of herself, but because of that conversation, she was motivated to improve. When she retook the class over the summer, her grade changed from a D to an A.

“I didn’t make her this super smart student. She had it in her, and it was this little conversation that just kind of triggered something in her, that made her believe that she could do it, and I thought, ‘I almost didn’t say anything to this kid,’ so if I see this about anybody else, I need to tell them,” he explained.

“Sometimes, nobody has ever said these things to them, and somebody should have. So for me, it is a blessing to be the person who helps a kid see something good about themselves. That is so much more valuable to me than giving them insight into some formula, which they are never going to use again for the rest of their lives.”

In another case, he had a student that was absent often, and even when she was in class, she seemed distant. This was one of the moments where Nortillo took initiative.

“I found her in her study hall, and said, ‘Sometimes, when you come to class, you’re there, and you really engage with the people around you and with the work, and it’s really fun to watch you because you are good, but you are borderline failing my class and if you fail, you won’t be in my class next semester, and the truth is, I’m really going to miss you next semester.'”

After passing the first semester, something changed within her, and next semester, she scored A’s on her first nine quizzes and tests.

“She felt from me a belief that she could do so much better than she was doing, that if she gave the effort, she could do it. That’s always been an impact that I am looking to have around here,” Nortillo explained.

“But man, if you can change a kid’s motivation, then that’s something. Sometimes, you’re in the right place, at the right time, and you have the right things to say, and it changes the world for a kid.”

In his years at Niles West, Nortillo has focused more on just teaching math; he has taught students to believe in themselves. Although he is retiring, students will remember the lasting impact he had on them.