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Kalie Sturch: Teacher Spotlight

April 04, 2022

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Help us celebrate our next Teacher Spotlight and birthday girl, Miss Kalie Sturch!

Kalie graduated from Pekin Community High School (another PCHS) in Pekin, IL. After high school, she attended college at Maryville University in St. Louis and earned her degree in elementary education.  

We asked Miss Sturch to tell us about her path to a career in education. This is what she had to say: "I originally went to school for occupational therapy. I decided after taking a gross anatomy class that it wasn't what I wanted to do. I had always loved working with children (I'd worked at a summer camp for about 5 years previously) and decided that education would be fun. I took my first education class and immediately loved it. I had so much fun in all my education classes. My mom has also been a teacher for almost 30 years so I've had a great example set for me. I had a lot of great teachers in high school who I looked up to. I also always loved working with kids."

This is Miss Sturch's 4th year at PCR-I. She started out teaching 5th-grade and has been in 3rd-grade for the past few years. 

When Miss Sturch is not at school or working a gate or concession stand, she loves to travel. "I love to travel and be outdoors! I like finding new places to hike and explore. I also love to read. My goal is to read 50 books this year! I love going to see musicals, too! I'm seeing 6 musicals this year. I also love to snuggle with my cat, Luna, who I got as a Christmas gift from a student during my first year of teaching. I've also been a Chicago Cubs fan since birth, so going to college in St. Louis was difficult. One of my favorite quotes comes from one of my favorite books series: "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." I read the first Harry Potter book to my class each year, and it's my favorite read-aloud. The quote comes from the Harry Potter series."

Kalie tells us her favorite thing about being part of the PCR-I team, "I love all the people I work with. When I first moved here, several people took me in, since I was so far from home, and became like family."

Happy Birthday, Miss Sturch! Thank you for choosing Putnam! We are glad you're here!

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