About Contact Help Advertise ... : $5 off purchase of $25 or more Taking the battle to the classroom EDUCATION: Some Indiana, Illinois teachers also have military experience. BY OLIVIA CLARKE Times Staff Writer This story ran on nwitimes.com on Monday, August 2, 2004 12:06 AM CDT ADVERTISEMENT Merrillville resident Greg Hatch joined the military right out of high school, but 20 years later he retired and teaching became his next calling. The Troops to Teachers program helped make it happen. At 48, he's now principal at Lake Station's Edison Junior-Senior High School. The 10-year-old program helps address teacher shortages while helping military personnel in their transition to a second career. It also recruits teachers for schools dealing with the achievement gap affecting low income and minority children. David Hall, 52, of Lansing, retired from the U.S. Army after 21 years of service. A Vietnam veteran, he said he also taught at the University of Wisconsin in Whitewater while in the military. Teaching history at Chicago Public Schools' Tilden Career Academy High School, he said he uses his military experiences, such as traveling to 22 countries, to help him reach students. "I've lived quite a bit of (history)," he said. "I try to explain the world outside of where they live in. A lot of them have never been anywhere. Being in the military, you work with young men and women that aren't much older than what you work with in high school." | |
|