Joliet Central teacher learned Spanish from neighbors

Jeffrey Grimes, when he was 18, took a trip to Mexico, where a language barrier led to his career as a Spanish teacher.

It wasn’t a direct route.

But Grimes is happy to say now that he is teaching the right language and at the right place.

Grimes, in an interview at his classroom at Joliet Central High School, said he had not planned to become a teacher.

“Somebody saw something I didn’t see in myself,” Grimes said. “I didn’t go to school to be a teacher. I went to school to be a missionary.”

The “somebody” was Lee Swank, a Joliet Central teacher who knew Grimes and encouraged him to try substitute teaching at the school.

He did, which was the start of his career.

That he became a Spanish teacher may as much as anything have been inspired by that trip to Mexico and the language barrier he encountered.

“I could not understand anybody,” Grimes said. “I said, ‘I’m going to learn Spanish.’ ”

He had taken Spanish one semester as a student at Joliet West High School, but got a D and dropped the class.

With his newfound determination, Grimes began to learn the language from his Spanish-speaking neighbors in the Marycrest subdivision in Joliet and co-workers at a local restaurant.

“To me, Joliet Central is the best school in Illinois. I love it. My kid goes here. I wouldn’t have him go anywhere else.”

—  Jeffrey Grimes, Joliet Central High School teacher

When he began to teach, Grimes, who had graduated from the Moody Bible Institute with the plan of being a missionary, went back to school to be certified to teach Spanish.

Once certified, he left Joliet Central in 2005 to teach Spanish in the Chicago Public Schools at Manley Career Academy High School.

“I grew a lot there,” Grimes said. “I wanted a different experience.”

It was different.

“Compared to here, it was very chaotic,” Grimes said. “That’s why I came back. If it wasn’t so chaotic, I would never have come back.”

He came back in 2012 and is glad he did.

“To me, Joliet Central is the best school in Illinois. I love it,” he said. “My kid goes here. I wouldn’t have him go anywhere else.”

Grimes points to the diversity at Joliet Central, the temperament of the students, and the support that colleagues provide each other as attributes of the school.

He also talks about opportunity.

Offering a short tour through the school, Grimes called out to several colleagues who graduated from Joliet Central, saying Steelmen pride and the school itself bring them back.

He stopped off at the classroom where Dale West teaches engineering and architecture.

West, in between classes, showed the equipment and computer technology available to students.

“They are using the exact same software in my classes that the architects are using,” West said.

Some of his students were heading for Illinois State University in Bloomington that weekend for a state competition sponsored by the Illinois Design Educators Association.

“They’re competing against the best of the best in the state,” West said.

It’s the kind of opportunity and achievement that Grimes said contributes to a special place in Joliet.

“I say Joliet Central is the heartbeat of the community,” Grimes said. “When I see students who have graduated, the pride exudes.”