Mission of Mac’s Tracey Valant: Igniting students

Upon approaching her 1988 Tinley Park High School graduation, Tracey Valant had the next phase of her life somewhat mapped out.

Like many other 18-year-olds, she may not have had the important conversation with her parents about those plans.

She had plans of being a hairdresser.

Her father, Felix, a now-retired Chicago Public School teacher and principal, had a different idea.

“He sent me to Illinois State University (where she graduated in 1992) to become a teacher,” the 54-year-old Bishop McNamara Catholic High School teacher said. “It was the right decision. I enjoy being a teacher.”

At Bishop McNamara since the 2012-13 school year, Valant teaches botany, calculus and algebra. To put it more plainly, she’s up to take on any class dealing with science or mathematics.

As students headed home after the final bell had long since rung, St. Anne sophomore Ryane Jefferson, 15, walked past the classroom.

She peeked her head inside the door. She has two classes, she explained, with Mrs. Valant: honors botany and algebra 2.

How is it having the same teacher two times a day, Jefferson is asked? She quickly responded.

“It’s great. She makes it fun,” she said.

She also makes it challenging, Jefferson said, adding, “That is how you learn.”

A wide smile crossed Valant’s face.

Despite her early thoughts of cosmetology, Valant headed to ISU, earned her degree and quickly found herself teaching with stops at Bremen High School in Midlothian and then Andrew High School in Tinley Park before landing at Kankakee’s Bishop Mac.

“McNamara was looking for a math teacher,” she said of her move to the West Brookmont Avenue school after staying home to raise her three children. “This is a great school.”

Valant credits her high school trigonometry teacher, Mr. Mayday, for her math inspirations.

“He was the reason I went into math,” she said. “He was incredibly passionate about math.”

She said it was one of those moments when a student was excited about entering a class.

“He was why I chose to teach math,” Valant said.

The reasons she has stayed in the profession are many. But when they are reduced to their lowest common denominator, it is clear.

Valant loves students. She loves watching them grow. She loves viewing achievement.

“I try to get them excited. I try to challenge them. I try to inspire them,” she said. “It’s about achievement and being able to reach goals that they never thought they could.”

And she remains just as excited today about being a teacher as the first day she walked into a classroom as a bright-eyed instructor.

She works to make her classrooms as impactful as possible.

“Students love it when you make classes, projects real,” Valant said. “I work to bring in real-world problems for them to figure out.”

She believes it works. The students respond.

“I never grow tired of teaching,” she said. “I love motivating and exciting students.”

Motivation is a two-way street. The students inspire her to bring more to the classroom, to challenge them even further.

She is well aware that the teaching profession has its challenges.

In days past, there was a much greater respect for teachers. Students walked into schools with that respect.

In today’s schools, teachers must earn the students’ respect.

“You must earn their trust,” Valant said. “If they know you care, they will put more into your class.”

And she never gives in to those who doubt the importance of being a teacher.

“We were never elite status,” she said. “But a teacher makes a difference. That’s why we do what we do. I’m very blessed. Kids come into this classroom, and they want to learn. They are excited to learn.”

She returns the energy. She wants to teach.

How long she’ll continue as a professional teacher is something she hasn’t yet decided. Even though she has a 45-minute trip to reach Bishop Mac, she has not gotten tired of it.

While her classroom whiteboards had already been erased, she noted that they are often filled with numbers as students work out math equations. She views a whiteboard filled with numbers as a work of art.

“Kids work hard in this class,” Valant said. “I’m lucky. Enthusiasm ignites greatness. I’m here to ignite them.”