Laura Koritz, Mark Foley, Taryn Smith, and Dave Sutton

This team’s innovative teaching Idea, "Working for justice," focuses on closing the racial and socioeconomic gap within their community by having a select group of 60 diverse students and four staff members embark on volunteer work, ranging from the local elementary school to trips to the Mississippi Delta to build homes. The program fosters a deeper understanding of the racism prevalent in American history and poverty. Locally in Illinois the students volunteer in schools, health clinics and the Human Society. In February, High School juniors and seniors travel to the Mississippi Delta on a week-long retreat where the students build habitat homes for those in extreme poverty. The group plans to continue the program to create a deep bond within their own diverse community, while engaging in hands-on positive change.