Childhood interests can open a door further down our path without us even realizing it. A young Sarah Ray sat in her 8th grade social studies class with one of her favorite teachers and an open mind. Absorbing all the information she could get, Ray loved learning all the content that was being taught. She sat at her desk day by day receiving as much information as she could get. Pouring passion into her assignments and showing genuine interest in the subject, social studies quickly became one of her favorite classes. One particular activity about John F. Kennedy’s assasination piqued her interest so much, it planted a seed in her life that would grow into a whole career in social studies. Ray’s future was shaped by many different factors – family, friends, hobbies and experiences. And now, social studies would open her eyes to the path that leads to where she currently stands.
Now, as a high school teacher of AP Human Geography and armed conflicts, she reflects on her love of history.
“I think it’s just so fascinating to know that every single decision that has been made in the past and every big event that has happened in the past has brought us here,” Ray said.
Ray’s love for history brought her down an interesting path as she figured out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Knowing she loved working with kids and teenagers, she decided to head down the social science route so that she could teach all kinds of history classes. This way, her love for history and sharing history with others wouldn’t be limited to just one specific subject or branch of history. She started at Benedictine University with a plan to earn her bachelor’s degree as a social sciences major with a minor in secondary education.
However, after attending Benedictine for some time, Ray realized that the education department was not for her, and she ultimately decided to stop taking those kinds of classes. Additionally, she discovered interest in another similar subject while she was there, political science, which led her to take some classes she enjoyed and found interest in. Ray then went on to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in political science. However, her journey with secondary education was not over.
“I took a couple gap years, and then I realized that I do want to go back to school to be a high school teacher,” Ray said. After discovering this, Ray found her way to Elmhurst University to study secondary education.
Ray’s decision to go back to school for secondary education involved lots of consideration. She had always known that she loved working with teens, but her classes in college piqued very different interests for her. She took a bunch of law classes throughout college that she recalls enjoying, so much so that she considered different career paths.
“Those [classes] were just so fascinating,” Ray said. “I actually went through a period of time where I [considered being] a lawyer because of those classes.”
Throughout her time at Benedictine, one of her professors who taught many of her law classes stood out to her. Ray saw her as a mentor throughout her time at Benedictine, and she even reflects on how her advice and guidance helped her find the path she took that led her to where she is today.
Now, Ray is a teacher who spreads her love of history to her students as well as her kindness, compassion and care for others. She’s had a lot of experiences throughout her life that have shaped these traits in her, but one of them had a special impact on her.
In her senior year of high school, she was able to test out an Italian exchange student program. Over Thanksgiving break of her senior year, Italian students came to the U.S. and were assigned students to live with. This program was one of Ray’s first experiences with a new insight to different cultures, and it opened her eyes to a whole new world of diversity.
“[Living with her] did kind of shape who I am because it helped me realize I actually do really like being introduced to new cultures,” Ray said. “There’s a whole life out there besides just the United States.”
More than her interest in other cultures and the world around her, Ray’s life is shaped around her personal traits: being kind, compassionate, sassy and dramatic. She showed most of these traits even from a young age.
“I remember growing up and my teachers always saying, ‘Sarah’s so kind [and] compassionate,’” Ray said. She’s embraced her kindness and compassion from a young age, but her sassiness and dramatic personality took a little more time for her to grow into.
“I’m also very sassy and dramatic, and I have grown into accepting that,” Ray said. “I feel like growing up I didn’t really let people see that [side of me] a lot, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve kind of stopped caring as much and just let all of that come out.”
Today, Ray stands at the front of her classroom following through with a combination of two of her greatest passions: history and teaching. She embraces the inner kindness and dramatic nature of herself to connect with her students. Teaching is something that Ray has grown to really love, and for many different reasons.
“[I love] being able to share my love for the subject with students,” Ray said. Growing up with a passion for learning about history helps Ray effectively teach it throughout the year. As she has spent time teaching, she’s learned more about why she loves it.
“I’ve always loved being able to see light bulbs go off in kids’ heads as we’re learning about stuff, and I just love being able to see them do well with the subject that we’re going over,” Ray said.
Additionally, she’s had students who have taken inspiration from her and learned more about themselves and what they are interested in.
“I love hearing about students that may be going to school to want to teach something,” Ray said. “It makes me feel good to know that I may have been a part of it.”
Senior Vanessa Perez-Munoz is one of Ray’s students who has been inspired by her personality and the way she teaches.
“I never knew what I wanted to do, and then once I met her, I [realized] I want to be this kind of role model for others,” Perez-Munoz said. “[I thought], ‘Oh, maybe I should be a teacher or something like that.’”
Although Ray has centered a lot of her life around her love for history and teaching, she has numerous hobbies and interests outside of education. Some of Ray’s favorite hobbies include reading, playing Nintendo’s Animal Crossing games, building legos and watching TV.
Many of her hobbies have roots in her childhood. Playing Animal Crossing games is something she remembers doing even as a kid. Playing through the vibrant world with color, joy, creativity and endless possibilities is something that has stuck with her as she’s grown.
“I remember [my dad] bought the Nintendo GameCube for my sister and I, and we got the original Animal Crossing game, and I just remember playing that,” Ray said. She recalls moments throughout her childhood where her dad would always get a new game console whenever one was released.
Not all of Ray’s hobbies stemmed from her childhood. Many were developed later in life. Karaoke is something that Ray never even thought about while growing up. The idea of shakily stepping up onstage, bringing the microphone to her mouth, pacing her breathing while preparing to sing and waiting for the music to start brought a wave of fear to her. But as she grew older, something changed.
When Ray met her husband, who’s Filipino, she quickly learned that karaoke is extremely popular within the Filipino community. His family would sing karaoke whenever an opportunity was available. This helped Ray become more comfortable with karaoke.
“Something happened where [my feelings] kind of switched for me, where I [realized] this is actually really fun,” Ray said. “I’m not afraid to do it anymore.” Spending time with her husband has helped her realize that karaoke isn’t a high stakes performance; it’s a fun activity where people support each other and enjoy themselves.
Another one of Ray’s hobbies is something that she’s integrated into her professional life. From a young age, one of Ray’s favorite activities was bowling. She recalls bowling from around eight years old and throughout high school.
Ray’s love of bowling was something she developed from an early age. The sounds of pins colliding and meeting the ground and bowling balls racing down the lane developed a joy in her that she still has today. One of her first experiences with coaching high school bowling was during her gap years between Benedictine University and Elmhurst University. Ray coached girls bowling at Elk Grove High School for two seasons. She had a couple other coaching opportunities before coming to Kaneland.
“I had already known that I really liked [coaching bowling], and so when I came here, I remember asking Mr. Rohlman [if there was] an opportunity to coach bowling,” Ray said.
Ray’s opportunities to coach bowling showed her that alongside education, coaching bowling is something that she values and also finds joy in. This opened a new door in her life that led her to find somewhere she could both teach and coach.
One of Ray’s main reasons that she loves bowling is because it’s a lifelong sport. Her grandfather, who is 83, still likes to go bowling. This is a lesson she’s learned that she shares with her team.
“[With] bowling, I can teach these boys to love a sport that they can play literally for the rest of their lives,” Ray said.
Ray has created a very unique path for herself from even a young age. The decisions she made in life were driven by joy, and now she’s able to work as a social studies teacher, bowling coach and an inspiration to others.
“[Knowing Mrs. Ray] has impacted the way I treat others,” Perez-Munoz said. “It made me see other perspectives.” Perez-Munoz has also connected with Ray throughout her years at high school in a special way. There are times when she visits Ray after school to see what she’s up to and chat with her.
However, Ray hasn’t just had an impact on students. She’s also impacted and inspired some of her coworkers and become close friends with them.
“Mrs. Ray is absolutely kind,” social studies teacher Jessica McNally said. “She is someone who really values fun and laughter.” Ray and McNally’s friendship has grown since they began working together, and McNally has personally seen the traits that make up Ray.
“I’ve gotten to know her, her work ethic and her care for students, which has just made my respect for her grow and our friendship grow,” McNally said. Through working with her, McNally has drawn inspiration from Ray.
“She is always willing to really put in the extra work to make sure that things are the best they can be for her students,” McNally said.
Ray has managed to take the passions that shape who she is and make a career out of them. She finds fulfillment in joy and having fun. She is able to share her love of history with students through teaching and gets to create strong connections with students. She’s also able to share her childhood joy of bowling with her team and teach them the joy of competitive bowling. Ray has managed to forge a very positive and fulfilling life with happiness as its foundation. She embraces her passions, traits and values and finds a way to stay with them as well as finding the joy in life.
