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The sport of swimming first brought Kyle and Jamie Ruiz together in third grade. The 2004 Sterling graduates, who reconnected through swimming after college and eventually got married, are still giving back today as teachers and coaches.
Thank You, Teachers
A tribute to education's local heroes
Sauk Valley News/Shaw Local News Network
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In an effort to make Dixon High School’s curriculum more hands-on, major changes have been made to the science department and its line up of classes.
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Dixon High School's choir and life skills classes joined forces early in the 2025 spring semester to create a new singing ensemble, Voices United, that includes students with disabilities who want to sing and perform.
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Read our letters submitted by students and parents to Sauk Valley Media for our 2025 Thank You Teachers special edition
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Open Sesame celebrates 50 years of providing child care in Dixon.
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Dixon Public Schools’ newest addition, Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School, is nearing what is sure to be a historic moment for the district - the end of its first school year. The school provides special-education services to students in kindergarten to 12th grade.
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Combining her passion for teaching and basketball, a third grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary in Dixon started her own March Madness tradition centered around picture books.
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Challand Middle School’s art program offers students a range of classes, from drawing to painting and printmaking to sculpture.
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Megan Grady, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Sterling's Challand Middle School, uses competition and interactive curriculum to keep kids engaged in history.
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Brian Lobdell is a second grade teacher at Sterling’s Franklin Elementary School. He transitioned into his career at Sterling schools years ago after spending a decade as a stay-at-home dad.
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Dianna Brevitt is Sauk Valley Community College’s radiology program director, its Outstanding Faculty Award winner, and is being nominated for the 2025 Illinois Community College Trustees Association Outstanding Full-time Faculty Award.
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Nolan Baker is a social studies teacher at Sterling High School and also serves as its head wrestling coach. Zhane Baker is an advanced placement English teacher at SHS.
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Amy Heffelfinger and Heidi Ripley, who run Rock Falls High School's Family and Consumer Sciences Department, are helping students learn practical life skills that go beyond the classroom.
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With the help of amazing technology and a team of specialists, the 14-year-old eighth-grader at Reagan Middle School is doing normal things adapted to her significant disabilities.
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The three marching band directors participate in a digital roundtable, sharing thoughts on issues signficant to music education and the marching bands to their communities.