Almost 30 area business people went back to class at Lincoln-Way High School Thursday.
The annual invitation extended in honor of American Education Week is an opportunity to show the business community what is happening at the high school, Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said.
“This is an opportunity for you to see how we operate, to see us in action,” Wyllie said, sending the visitors to meet students and teachers working on subjects from algebra to driver’s education.
For Bill Thompson, who owns a life and health insurance business, the morning brought a family reunion of sorts. He got his first chance to watch his daughter, English teacher Tricia Sniadecki, in action.
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Sniadecki’s students, sophomores in the Tech-Prep program, beefed up their vocabularies by answering questions posed in a series of posters hung along the walls of the room.
The posters asked students to name a “diminutive” task or a “capricious” job or explain the problems a “diffident” attitude can create in a job interview.
The Tech-Prep “program is designed to be hands-on,” Sniadecki said.
A hands-on approach appeals to students such as Samantha Zemar, 16, of New Lenox. She said viewing the posters and answering the questions helps her understand the vocabulary words, “because you get to see them.”
The visitors became part of the learning process, fielding questions, such as a query from Tara Coughlin, 15, of New Lenox, who wanted to know what high school subjects proved useful in the business world.
Carol Ekdahl, a Lincoln-Way School Board member who runs a financial-planning business with her husband, said she uses English and math “every day, every day, every day.”
Then there is that old standby: typing.
“Right now,” said Hans Mueller, a retired manager, “everyone ought to learn to type because of computers.”
And Thompson gave students some insight into self-employment. “When you’re in business for yourself, you do it or it doesn’t get done. It has to keep moving. It’s a living thing.”
Thompson came away from the class pleased with his daughter’s career choice.
“I’m glad to see that she’s just loving what she does,” he said.