For 31 years Eve Weseman has been teaching at Prospect. She started teaching here in 1993 after student teaching at Elk Grove High School. Since then, she’s taught about nine different types of math classes over her years at Prospect.

Her path to becoming a math teacher wasn’t straightforward. At first, she thought she’d go into accounting or even architecture. It wasn’t until she was walking out of her computer science class when she saw a sign encouraging students to sign up for math class. 

“I thought ‘oh my goodness, math is a universal language,’” Weseman said. “One plus one is the same everywhere in the world.”

Even though she never imagined being a teacher at first, she ended up loving it. Her favorite part of teaching is seeing students finally get a concept and realize that math actually makes sense. 

“I think any topic is my favorite [to teach] as long as I can help students understand it,” Weseman said.

Over the years, she’s done more than just teaching. Weseman helped with the math team in her early years and was even part of the Chinese club for a bit. With her senior students she has the class make Belgian waffles as a fun end-of-year tradition. She’s stayed in touch with lots of former students too.

Both of her sons went to Prospect and loved it, and although she never had them in class, she’s always been proud to be part of a school with such caring teachers and students. 

As she heads into retirement, Weseman plans to travel, spend time with her family in Asia and maybe take up some new hobbies as she likes to learn more about the stock market. She will miss the daily interactions with students most, and the joy of watching them grow and succeed.

“Take advantage of all the amazing opportunities at Prospect,” Weseman said. “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, keep trying, and believe in yourself. That ‘yes I can’ attitude can take you far.”

Q: “What is your job?”

A: “I’m the Administrative Assistant to the Associate Principal for Activities and Operations. So I’m Mr. Mirandolas admin assistant on the operations side. He also does activities, and that’s when Miss Anzalone is a part of it. Operations … entails everything that is an instruction. So I work with all of the furniture, all the purchases for the building, but for the students I work with, all the busses, the cabs, fee waivers, paying fees, ordering all the paper, everything that in the building that allows the students to go to school, but not related to instruction.”

Q: “How did you get this job?”

A: “I’ve been in this position nine years. Prior to this, I was at Wheeling High School and I was Assistant Principal of Student Services … I [started] interviewing [for new jobs] because at that point [my job] was going to be a promotion. So I interviewed for several positions in the district, and Mr. Minter actually hired me because he was the Associate Principal at that time, so I worked with him, and then Miss Kendrick, and now with Mr. Mirandola.”

Q: “How have you grown relationships while being in this position?”

A: “It’s a really nice team, you know, I’m very lucky. I will say, and it’s not to schmooze at all, but [Mirandola has] been one of the best managers I’ve ever had, and it’s really a team effort … It’s nice to be a part of not only setting things up, but working with the students. Because if I got to work in an office, I don’t think I’d like it. I really like working in a school.”

Q: “What is your favorite part about your job?”

A: “I don’t mind putting out the fires … I like the organization, it keeps me busy. … If you go to the prospect website and there’s a calendar there and you click on it, everything that’s not sports I organized putting that all on the calendar. But I like it, because it’s like, I get to know what’s all happening in the school, and I enjoy that. And then it allows me to get to feel a part of it.”

Q: “Do you have a favorite thing you’ve contributed to here?”

A: “I do a lot of cost analysis. Because, even though you may say, wow, you know, look at all those chairs, look at all those things, we do cost analysis to make sure we’re getting the best price … Also working on graduation, working with freshman orientation, you know, things that allow me to … get [to know] the kids. I love the school spirit, you know, and assisting the kids with that. And when someone wins on Friday, we get to ring our bell.”

Q: “What do you think you’ll miss the most?”

A: “I won’t miss getting up early in the morning to start at seven. [I’ll miss] the friendships I’ve made, and keeping busy, you know, and organizing. I know that I’ll miss that. I’m afraid I’ll get in trouble if I don’t stay busy … I’ll miss the school setting because I really do like working.”

Q: “Do you have any plans after retirement?”

A: “My husband and I like to travel a lot. We have been to all 50 states in our married life, but we’re going to do it again. We are in the process of buying a Class B Van, and having it built … We’re going to start going in the fall, hopefully to the East Coast, and we’ll go for trips for a couple weeks at a time. [We also] want to travel overseas more. We’ve been to several countries, but want to do more of that traveling.”

Q: How long have you been teaching?

A: “It’s my 11th year at Prospect. I’ve been in District 214 for 31 years. I was at Elk Grove High School for 20 years and I taught at Chicago Public Schools for two years prior to that. This is my 33rd year total.”

Q: What are some of your most memorable moments as a teacher?

A: “It’s when students come back and say thank you. Just the little things when they sometimes do special things where they write you a note. One student came back and made a painting for me.”

Q: What are you most proud of from your career?

A: “I’ve been teaching now for 33 years, that’s quite an accomplishment, and I still haven’t lost my enthusiasm and excitement for teaching, especially teaching math.” 

Q: What is your biggest accomplishment during your teaching career?

A: “I think it’s a nice accomplishment to be able to say, if you take a look at how many students that I’ve taught and come in contact with over my 30 plus years of teaching. It’s inspiring and kind of cool to say, hey, I’ve touched a lot of people’s lives.”

Q: Have you coached during your teaching career?

A: “My first love growing up was playing basketball and eventually coaching basketball. I was a varsity girls [basketball] coach for a couple of years back in 2017 to 2019… I enjoy coaching golf, I’ve been doing that now for seven years [at Prospect].”

Q: What have you learned from teaching?

A: “I’ve had some great new friendships, some close friends. So that’s what it’s all about. Life’s about coming in contact with people, meeting people, and making an impact, especially as an educator.”

Q: What has been your favorite part about teaching?

A: “Teaching is a great job because you get a chance to meet new students every year with different classes and make an impact and teach them or coach them or both. That’s been a passion of mine, and obviously why I went into teaching.”

Q: What are your plans for retirement?

A: “I’d like to do some traveling, spend some more time traveling with my wife and see some places we haven’t been. I’d like to go overseas and get my passport filled up… I’d like to visit France… I’d love to go to the British Isles and I want to eventually get to Scotland. I also want to go to some national parks here in the states.”

Q: Are there any hobbies or activities you will pursue during retirement?

A: “Now that I’m not coaching golf in the fall, I have some more time to golf because I like to golf.”

Q: What will you miss most about Prospect when you retire?

A: “I will miss just coming here every day in my classroom and teaching. It’s time for a change, but I think I will just miss the people.”

As Mike Riedy stood at the front of the room teaching his math class, reflecting on his long and rewarding career, he couldn’t help but think about the countless faces he had encountered over the years — the colleagues and students whose lives he had crossed paths with. In that moment, it became clear that for Riedy, success wasn’t just measured by his achievements in volleyball and teaching, but by the legacy of inspiration he had left.

“There’s a ton of people out there in the world and I want to believe that they pursued what they are doing because of me,” Riedy said.

Riedy started his career as a teacher at Lane Tech in 1990, but wanted a change of scenery.  He began to send out applications to schools, and he got a call back from Prospect offering a job, which he ended up taking in 1994 and he has been here for 32 years. Since then, he has been able to make a huge impact at a school he didn’t know much about initially.

“I was a little freaked out because even though I went to Hoffman, I didn’t even know that Prospect existed, but I knew it was going to get me out of the city and make me more money so I was excited,” Riedy said. 

Riedy has also assisted others at the start of their teaching careers, like his colleague Karen Kanupke, in whose teaching he has made a big difference for the 25 years she has been here, helping in her coaching and teaching.

“When I first started here he helped a lot with everything,” Kanupke said.“But, now it has evolved into equal colleagues and a friendship that will last.”

Riedy and Kanupke have worked in the classroom for many years and one of the things they did together was write the honors geometry curriculum that they have used for years. By making this she has a new aspect of education and geometry. 

“We built from the ground up but we change it every year to make it better and better and you see that it is helping the students which is important,” Kanupke said. 

With how long Riedy has been teaching at Prospect, he’s not only made bonds with his colleagues, but also many memories. Some of his best memories come from his time coaching boys volleyball, where he has just achieved his 600th win, now in the top five all-time in the state of Illinois. One of his favorite memories from coaching came during the 1997 season, his team ended up getting fourth at the state tournament.

“We had a pretty good team, not great, and we just started beating people who we shouldn’t have beaten, and we ended up going to state,” Riedy said. 

One of senior Ryan Cook’s favorite memories with Riedy is when Ryan surprised him on staff night for volleyball. Staff night consists of players writing up a paragraph for a teacher and the teacher that they wrote for comes to hear what they wrote and watches the game. Ryan surprised Riedy by writing a paragraph for another teacher that was actually intended for him.

“Yeah it was really nice, it took everything in my power not to cry.” Riedy said. “It takes a lot to trick me and he had done a nice job of tricking me into not realizing that was going to happen and I was touched by the words he had to say.”

Riedy has created more memories than with just volleyball, though. He has also created many in the classroom. When he was in class with Kanupke, a bee snuck into his room and he smashed the window, which made for a crazy moment.

 “This student came down to the office to look for maintenance, but I was able to get the story out of the kid and the whole office was laughing so it was just something I would never forget,” Kanupke said.

Even though Riedy has some crazy moments, he has definitely left a significant impact on his fellow teachers who were his former students and have followed in his footsteps, like King and science teacher Michelle Tantillo.

 “It’s always amazing how people I have had [as students] in high school have gone into what I do,” Riedy said. 

Riedy has not only impacted many people in the school — they have also impacted him. Seeing them regularly makes his day better and makes him debate whether retiring is the right move to make. 

“Daily interaction with coworkers and students make it feel almost impossible to step away from this school,” Riedy said. 

Senior Luke Cook has felt the impact of Riedy through his coaching, from the three years he has played with him, and he says Riedy has taught him how to become a better person. 

“He’s taught me a lot about being a better person, not only on the volleyball court but also off the court, by being a better leader and holding myself to a higher standard.” Luke said.

Another way Riedy has helped out Kanupke is by working with students in her calculus classes. Even though he might not be their teacher, he goes out of his way to make sure everyone knows what they are doing, no matter what kind of situation they are in. For instance, when one of Kanupke’s students were in and out of the hospital and needed math help.

“He made himself available for her, making extra time in his day which just shows what kind of character he has, always helping others,” Kanupke said.

With how long Riedy has been here, many will miss his contributions to the school, whether they were as a friend, teacher or coach. His long-time friends like Kanupke are going to miss him a little more than most. 

“He’s probably been my best friend here for 25 years, so I think the school is going to miss his personality and all the help he has given to students,” Kanupke said.