EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Allie Grazevich, Class Of 2012

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — For the past dozen years, student leaders at Evergreen Park Community High School have continued the tradition of delivering “Future Mustang” t-shirts to kindergarteners at the four Evergreen Park Elementary School District 124 schools.

Allie Grazevich was part of the first group of student leaders to do so when she was an EPCHS senior in 2011. By chance, that same Northwest Elementary School kindergarten class that received the first batch of shirts became Grazevich’s first fifth grade class when she landed her first full-time teaching job at her elementary school alma mater five years later.

“I got so lucky,” Grazevich said of finding a teaching job so quickly in her hometown. “It was so unplanned, too.”

Grazevich said she had wanted to become a teacher ever since she was a young girl enrolled in the Village of Evergreen Park dance program. In another “full circle” moment, she’s now a teacher in that same program and also leads kids yoga classes for the village’s Recreation Department.

“I recently got my certification in kids yoga because it is an area of need I noticed, especially since COVID,” Grazevich said. “We offer classes through Southwest (Elementary School), and it gives kids such a positive start to their day.”

Grazevich’s passion for teaching was only enhanced during her four years at EPCHS. Two of the teachers she cited as having the greatest impact on her — Katie Allgaier and Scott Pasek — still work at the high school to this day.

In addition to student leadership, Grazevich was a member of the National Honor Society, Color Guard and the musicals at EPCHS.

“I remember how chaotic tech week for the musicals was, but we got to spend a lot of time with friends and had a lot of fun,” she said. “My parents did a lot of volunteering and would go to every show.”

Already knowing that education would be her college major, Grazevich said she only considered two schools: Illinois State University and Northern Illinois University. After visiting ISU, she said the campus was “very welcoming,” and provided “exactly what I wanted to do.”

“It felt like home,” Grazevich said. “I loved my time there and miss it all the time.”

As luck would have it, Grazevich was assigned her student teaching hours here in Evergreen Park at Southwest Elementary School, where she worked with 5th grade teacher Christine Grebenor. In 2016, she was hired as a full-time 5th grade teacher at Northwest, a role she held for three years.

Since then, she’s moved back to Southwest and is currently in her fifth year as one of the school’s 4th grade teachers.

“I love the EP community and am happy to be a teacher in a town where I had so many great teachers.”