Our education podcast, Teachers' Lounge is also on the radio. We feature interviews with Illinois teachers and education stories you love, along with exclusive segments, in a monthly, hourlong show on WNIJ.
On this episode, we talk with an education power couple! Kelly Mandrell is the superintendent of the Polo Community School District in Ogle County, and her husband, Jon Mandrell, is the new president of Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon.
We talk about how they met at Sauk Valley, how Jon’s relationship with the community college goes back literally about as far as he can remember; and their extremely different paths into education leadership.
We also revisit our 2024 conversation with Cacie Miller! She’s a music instructor at College of DuPage, director of music at United Lutheran Church in Oak Park and creator of the musical project “Composing the Climate” that uses classical music to explore themes around climate change.
We talked about suggestive power music has, especially when we use it to channel our emotions about something like climate. Cacie also channels that same power — music as spiritual guide — in her work in church.
We also have a "classroom correspondent" on the show. This is the teacher we interview each month to follow a school year in their life.
This year, our correspondent is Kelcey Dodd! She's a kindergarten teacher at Spring Creek Elementary in Rockford who is in her first year as a teacher, so we're going to be checking in on her as she figures things out.
Finally, we check in with our student correspondents for the fall: the Amboy High School marching band, as they seek to topple their rival, and take home a trophy they've been chasing for over 20 years.
If you have never listened before, the show is based on a simple idea: We have all had teachers who shaped who we are. We want to hear about the educators who inspired you. Every guest on Teachers' Lounge — whether a teacher, coach, counselor or professor — is nominated by listeners.
So tell us about the person who comes to your mind. Send us an email to nominate an educator at teacherslounge@niu.edu, and they could be on the show!
Don't worry — the podcast is still available. You can catch episodes every other Friday on WNIJ.org or wherever you get podcasts.
