HHS teacher St. Clair honored as Educator of Year

HUNTLEY — A Huntley High School teacher who had her interest in education sparked by helping a high school teacher was named McHenry County Regional Office of Education(ROE)Educator of the Year.

Renae St. Clair, who founded the HHS Medical Academy, was presented with the honor at a ROE event. St. Clair said she was surprised to receive the accolade. The program left the night’s biggest award for the end as other award categories winners were named. St. Clair described the event her reaction to the award.

“There are so many great educators in McHenry County and I was honored to be nominated,” St. Clair said. “They got to the big award, the Educator of the Year, you figure it will be one of the category winners so I thought I was out of the running. Then they said ‘surprise’, the Educator of the Year award winner’s name has not been called yet. I think we’re all shocked and processing that when they announced my name. I was incredibly shocked and happy. I usually don’t show that type of emotion and I just could not keep it in. I was proud to be the winner.”

HHS Principal Dr. Marcus Belin congratulated St. Clair for receiving the award.

“St. Clair is the definition of a legendary teacher,” Belin said. “She is known for her exceptional dedication and passion for teaching. She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure students’ success, inspiring them to reach their full potential. Her innovative and engaging teaching methods create a supportive learning environment where every student feels valued and challenged to grow. She is very deserving of this award.”

St. Clair soon thanked a teacher at Richmond-Burton High School. The classroom teacher was Marlene Farver, who gave her that unique teaching opportunity.

St. Clair, daughter of Dale and Sheila St. Claire of Belvidere, grew up in Byron, Ill., and her family later moved to Richmond-Burton High School District, where she graduated in 1998. She described how she first became interested in education.

“As a kid, I was always good at math and loved it,” St. Clair remembered. “For a long time I thought I was going to follow in my dad’s footsteps and be an electrical engineer. When I got into high school, some of my high school teachers really told me to consider teaching. I was also introduced into athletic training as a profession and decided that was the best of both worlds. I went to Western Illinois University and in four years completed a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics with a Secondary Education Option and a Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training.”

She taught at Huntley after graduation, then Richmond-Burton where she was also Athletic Trainer. She returned to District 158 in 2007 as a teacher.

The Medical Academy and its Youth Residency Program began in 2011. St. Clair observed a need for formal curriculum to assist students who job shadow athletic trainers. She presented plans to then District 158 Superintendent Dr. John Burkey and then HHS Principal David Johnson.

“Johnson said that was great but asked me to think bigger, think an academy. I said, ‘what’s an academy.’ His vision was we had a class in almost every department that had a medical theme. I said OK and created the Medical Academy as it stands today and it is so much more than I would have thought was possible.”

From the start of the Medical Academy, “we knew that job shadowing was incredibly important,” St. Clair said. “I can tell you what an athletic trainer does, but you really don’t get a feel for it unless you follow me around for a day. We were thinking internships but of course that is done in college.”

She added, “so how can we get students real-world settings in high school? We realized that medical school is a lot different than most people realize. Students don’t actually pick a specialty until they are finishing medical school. They get experience in multiple disciplines because if you don’t know what it is, how do you know if you want to be in it? That’s what we wanted, our students to be in a hospital and see all aspects of a hospital, some that they probably don’t even know exist.”

According to the District 158 web site, Medical Academy Youth Residency Program students, who have a 3.5 GPA as a requirement for entry, observe procedures performed by medical professionals at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, and other top tier health care locations. The Medical Academy follows a blended learning format.

St. Clair estimates about 50 % of the graduates of the Medical Academy go on to pursue a healthcare career in college.

“I would say one or two students end up going to a medical school every year,” St. Clair said. “The numbers are low, but here’s the cool thing the students that decide a healthcare career is not in their future is high and we are proud of that, too, to help students figure it out while they are in high school and save thousands of dollars of college tuition pursuing a career that they think they are interested in until they figure out what it is really all about. Sometimes, figuring out what you don’t want to do can be just as valuable as figuring out what you do want to do.”