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Thomas Cerkez was recently
appointed to the Monmouth College Board of Trustees. |
Monmouth College prides
itself on preparing its graduates for the next stage of their lives,
both personally and professionally. Today’s generation of students call
it getting ready to meet “the real world.”
But before that rite of passage arrives, most students have had to make
a few other transitions. Thomas J. Cerkez III ’68, who was recently
appointed to serve on the Monmouth College Board of Trustees, made his
career out of one such transition – preparing elementary students for
middle school.
“I enjoyed the challenge that the kids brought to me,” said Cerkez, who
retired in 2002 after 33 years as a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher in
nearby Galesburg. “People laugh at me when I say this, but I never had a
bad class. There were difficult students along the way, but I never had
a year that was a bad experience.”
In Galesburg, middle school begins with sixth grade, and Cerkez took
seriously his role of preparing fifth-grade students for the next step
in their education.
“I did whatever I could to get them ready for junior high,” he said.
“From the ones who’ve come back to see me, they say they were ready when
they got there.”
Specifically, Cerkez recalls working with some of his accelerated
learners.
“It was also a fabulous challenge to work with my advanced math
students,” he said. “We’d spend a few weeks going through the
fifth-grade math textbook, then I needed to get them through sixth-grade
math so they’d be ready for advanced math when they got to junior high.”
There are no doubt many students, some now in their 40s, who can look
back and fondly remember the impact that “Mr. Cerkez” had on their
education. In a way, those students also have some legendary Monmouth
professors to thank, as Cerkez said the college’s outstanding faculty
left a similar mark on him.
“I feel fortunate to have had my life touched by educators such as Eva
Cleland, Garvin Davenport, Mary Crow, Stafford Weeks, Douglas Spitz,
William Urban, Donald Wills and Cecil Brett,” said Cerkez, a history
major at Monmouth who minored in English literature. “The education I
received and the experiences I had at MC prepared me for my chosen
profession of teaching.”
The new board member said he appreciates President Mauri Ditzler’s focus
on civil discourse.
“That’s the way it should be,” he said. “We can disagree, but we don’t
get personal about it. That’s the way I remember it being when I was a
student. We had some great discussions on a variety of topics, but I
never recall any bad feelings in the classroom.”
At the time of his graduation, Cerkez was able to teach despite not
majoring in education. He eventually attended night and summer classes,
primarily at Western Illinois University, to go beyond his “provisional”
certification. At one such class, a music course sponsored by Carl
Sandburg College and held at Monmouth College’s Austin Hall, he met his
wife, Mary Eyre, for the first time.
Cerkez has stayed connected to the college in the four decades since his
graduation, partly due to geography. He says he enjoys making the
15-mile drive to campus “for meetings and sporting events. I find myself
wandering around and marveling at all the positive changes over the
years.”
He continued, “I’m very enthused about the proposed business/science
complex. I think it’s a wonderful idea. Monmouth is certainly moving in
the right direction with all the buildings and playing fields that have
been added in the past decade.”
Since 2004, the meetings that have brought Cerkez to campus have been
with the Alumni Board.
“I enjoyed working with that group, and I thought that would be the
extent of my involvement,” he said. “I never thought I would be voted to
the full board. I feel very honored to be chosen.”
Board service is certainly one way to give back to one’s alma mater, and
financial contributions are another. Along with Mary, who is a retired
first-grade teacher, he provided funding for the Thomas J. Cerkez III
and Mary E. Eyre-Cerkez Scholarship, which is awarded to worthy MC
juniors or seniors who are pursuing a degree in education or history.
It all comes back to preparing students for the next level, and Cerkez
said he has liked what he’s seen from Monmouth in that department.
“I had a student teacher from Monmouth, and the student came very
well-prepared each day,” he said. “I feel that Monmouth is doing a
wonderful job with its students, and I’ve also seen that with two of my
nieces who have gone through the college. One is teaching in Rockford,
and the other is working for Caterpillar. They both had very positive
experiences at Monmouth.”
