EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Anna Marie Kukec Tomczyk, Class Of 1976

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A new author and award-winning journalist traces her love of writing back to her days as a student at Evergreen Park Community High School, where she graduated in 1976.

Anna Marie Kukec Tomczyk said working on the Mustang Monitor student newspaper at EPCHS “solidified my dream.”

“I got great advice from then Mustang Monitor Advisor Robert Zweig and other English teachers and spent countless hours in the Learning Resource Center (LRC) and the nearby Evergreen Park Public Library,” Kukec Tomczyk said. “I spent hours just reading a variety of books, studying magazines about writing, and, of course, researching my school assignments.”

Kukec Tomczyk was still an EPCHS student when she saw her first official byline. The Southtown newspaper picked up her Mustang Monitor stories, and soon hired her as a freelancer. Her role with the newspaper would gradually expand, going from stringer to part-time to full-time covering village, school and park boards across the suburbs.

“It was fascinating to be part of a new and growing daily newspaper,” Kukec Tomczyk said.

When the paper started a features section and TV magazine, Kukec Tomczyk found herself interviewing the likes of Ringo Starr, Denzel Washington, Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and other celebrities.

After 12 years at the Southtown, Kukec Tomczyk had a slight career shift to writing news releases and speeches at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office and volunteered on two gubernatorial campaigns.

“It gave me a unique perspective from ‘both sides of the fence’,” she said.

Later, she saw her bylines in the U.S. News & World Report, American Bar Association’s ABA Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily Herald and elsewhere.

“Those years included interviewing CEOs of Fortune 500 companies as well as judges nationwide,” she said. “While many of those were interesting and fun, I thoroughly enjoyed asking a question of then President George W. Bush during a nationally televised press conference in Chicago.”

But perhaps Kukec Tomczyk’s most meaningful work came with the Daily Herald, where she worked on a four-part series on the nationwide residential foreclosure wace and how it impacted local families in crisis.

“The series won a lot of awards and readers reached out to help those families,” Kukec Tomczyk said. “It was a deeply moving experience.”

Kukec Tomczyk left the Daily Herald in 2017 to focus on writing her newly released book, “We Are Eagles: Inspiring Stories Of Immigrant Women Who Took Bold Steps In Life Through Literacy.”

“The book offers gripping stories of immigrant women and how their lives dramatically change after they learned English and acclimated to their new homes in the local area,” she said. “It covers a 25-year period, both of the lives of these women as well as the founding and expansion of the Dominican Literacy Center.”

The literacy center has now helped about 3,000 students from 30 different countries, Kukec Tomczyk said.

“While immigration is a political, hot-button issue, the stories focus on the human side of how these women bootstrapped their lives, achieved their goals, and helped their families and their communities.”

Kukec Tomczyk will talk more about the book during an April 21 visit to the Evergreen Park Public Library, just five blocks from her alma mater.

“I have so many wonderful memories of being a student at EPCHS,” she said. “My school spirit really came out while attending the junior and varsity football and basketball games. I sometimes even led the cheers from the stands!”

Her advice to current students:

“Learn as much as you can while in high school — both through your studies and your life — because this will nourish your dreams, kickstart your careers, and ultimately help you, your families and your communities.”