• Amanda Rudofski: From Finance to First Graders

    Former SHSD161 student who followed her heart and changed careers now teaches at Indian Trail



    Indian Trail School first grade teacher Amanda Rudofski is living the dream. 

    When she attended Summit Hill schools including Indian Trail as a student, Amanda was into commercials and envisioned a career in advertising. However, after earning a bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Marketing from DePaul University, the Frankfort native took a job as a pricing analyst at Illinois Tool Works. 

    Rudofski went on to earn an MBA in Strategic Management from DePaul while working in finance and supplier negotiations for the local automotive manufacturing company. As one of the company’s employees, she would visit Summit Hill schools as part of the Junior Achievement program that allowed her to teach commerce-related lessons to grade school students. 

    “I realized through that Junior Achievement program how much more rewarding the field of education would be,” said Rudofski. “I was excelling at my job - I was doing great and I did enjoy it - but it wasn’t intrinsically satisfying to me.”

    After five years, she knew it was time to follow her heart and make a change. 

    “I loved that program so much and it made me realize that I really had a passion for teaching,” said Rudofski. “I was fortunate to have a great support system around me. Everyone said follow your dreams, so I did. I’m so glad that I was able to make that full circle back to home.”

    Rudofski returned to school, earning her master’s degree in teaching from Olivet Nazarene University. Shortly after earning her degree, she was hired by SHSD161 as an FMLA substitute at Dr. Julian Rogus School for the 2009-10 school year. 

    Rudofski took some years off to be home with her daughters, returning to teaching as an FMLA substitute again, first at DJR in 2016 and then at Indian Trail in 2017. In 2018, she was offered her dream job, a full-time teaching position at Indian Trail School.

    “When I got hired full-time, I was beyond excited because it was perfect,” reflected Rudofski. “It was the most amazing feeling to be hired by the district that I once attended.” 

    “I have so many memories from being a student here, going all the way back to third grade and my teacher Mrs. Kohlbacher,” said Rudofski. “She was absolutely amazing. She had a way of making every student feel so loved and so important. Lessons were fun and engaging, and third grade was my best year of school ever with Mrs. Kohlbacher!”

    “I actually went back to her later in life as an adult to talk to her when I decided to switch my career from finance to teaching,” added Rudofski. “I wanted her opinion, and we had a great conversation about it. She was an inspiration to me then, and she still is now.” 

    “She reached out to me when she was considering changing careers and I remember thinking it was a natural choice for her,” said Pamela Kohlbacher, who worked in Summit Hill schools for more than 30 years as a teacher and building administrator before serving one term on the school board in retirement. “She had been the kind of child that you think could become a teacher because of the way she viewed school and because of the way she worked so hard at school, so I was not surprised that she was making that career choice.”

    “I will say I was somewhat surprised in thinking that she was going from what was probably a pretty good paying position to one that might not be so much,” laughed Kohlbacher. “But you’ve got to love what you do. And when former students come back to this district and want to make a career here, I think it speaks volumes for the experiences that they had while they were here as students.” 

    “It’s so great to be a part of this district and to have a positive impact on the kids that I deal with every day, just like Mrs. Kohlbacher had that positive impact on me that I still remember to this day,” said Rudofski. “I loved my teachers as a child, and I truly believe we have a lot of amazing people teaching here now. They always put students first. I felt that as a child attending these schools and I still feel it now as a teacher working with my own students.” 

    “Teaching at my old school really is a dream come true,” reflected Rudofski, now in her eighth year of teaching. “I feel my commerce experience made me the teacher I am today so I wouldn’t change that. I think it brought a lot of great things to this career for me. But I’m so grateful to be back here and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”