Southwest Chicago Post: Ms. Quintana is a Classroom Legend

Chicago Bears salute Kennedy HS teacher

By Tim Hadac

Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post

Priscilla Quintana is a legend.

Just ask the Chicago Bears.

The playoff-bound football team recently honored her as part of its annual Classroom Legends salute to teachers “who go above and beyond,” according to a statement on its website.

The 32-year-old Garfield Ridge educator learned about the exclusive honor (only a handful of teachers win the award each year) as she was teaching class at Kennedy High School.

Zofia and her mom

“It was a total surprise,” she recalls. “The [classroom] door opened, and there were my principal and assistant principals. So, at first I thought it was an unannounced evaluation, which we have every year.

“But then I saw my husband (Orlando) and my daughter (6-year-old Zofia), and they’re wearing Bears clothing, so I’m wondering what’s up. Then I see a representative of the Bears walk in with a big check, and it became more clear.”

Exactly who nominated her is a secret the Bears are choosing to guard. It may have been a colleague at Kennedy or possibly someone else.

In her classroom, Ms. Quintana was presented with a bag filled with Bears-branded merchandise, as well as an oversized, ceremonial check indicating the team is giving her $1,000 to spend as she sees fit to improve her classroom.

Ms. Quintana, with Orlando and Zofia

“I would have been on top of the world with the goody bag, because I’m a big sports fan—except for the Cubs,” she says with a chuckle. “But getting the check…wow, a thousand dollars for my class.”

She plans to use the funds to purchase new books for her students—which she wanted but has not been able to obtain due to budget constraints.

On top of all that, the Bears representative asked Ms. Quintana, “What are you doing this coming Sunday?” and invited her to their December 14 home game against the Cleveland Browns.

“I just lost it when I heard that I’d not only attend a Bears game, but I’d get to walk on the field,” she recalls. “I’ve never been to Soldier Field for a sporting event, so it was exciting to be invited like that.”

The Bears made sure she received the red-carpet treatment. VIP parking on game day, special access to parts of the stadium most fans only dream of; seeing herself up on the scoreboard’s huge video screen; and of course, actually walking onto the field as the Bears went through warm-up drills just a few yards away.

“The whole experience was electric, it was phenomenal,” she recalls. “This is an unforgettable story I will tell my grandkids one day. It was my moment, and the Bears were so nice to me from start to finish.”

And it helped that the Bears triumphed by a score of 31-3.

A SW Side daughter of immigrants

Ms. Quintana is a Southwest Side native, the daughter of immigrants who came to Chicago from Michoacán, Mexico. She graduated from Morton High School in 2012 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern Illinois University--the first in her family to graduate college.

She first taught at a charter school, then switched to CPS, where she has taught creative writing and more at Kennedy for the last three years.

Part of the reason she went into teaching is to provide children with a positive Latina role model, something she really didn’t have at the schools she attended. “I want to be the teacher that I never had,” she says.

Ms. Quintana specializes in teaching students with special needs—many of whom, for example, are high school juniors who read significantly below grade level.

“Special needs can be a taboo subject in Hispanic culture,” she says, “and kids can easily feel stigmatized by it.

“They’re often overlooked, put on the back burner because maybe they don’t perform so well academically. But they’re also people.

“The kids I teach are socially aware. They don’t want to be stigmatized, so sometimes they may want to hide the fact that they have a disability. Sometimes they don’t want to show up for class because they’re afraid of feeling like they’re having too much difficulty learning--like they don’t want to belong here.

“I tell them that this class isn’t just about reading and writing. This class is going to help you after you’re out of here. The skills I’m teaching here will one day help you buy a house or get a car.”

All too often, what comes with special-needs children being overlooked is a sense of pity that can lead teachers to set the bar low, to not expect them to accomplish much.

Not in Ms. Quintana’s classroom.

“I hold them to high standards. I challenge them to be the best they can be. And often, they rise to the occasion and learn they can achieve more than they thought possible.”

Her challenges ahead are juggling her teaching duties with her expanding family. Earlier this year, the Quintanas welcomed a baby boy, Maverick, into the family.

“I have to really figure out how to be the best teacher I can be, the best mom I can be, the best wife I can be and yet not lose myself in all that.”

“I enjoy the environment at Kennedy,” she adds. “The students here are wonderful, as are my co-workers. Plus there’s a lot less micromanaging of teachers here than what I experienced at a charter school. Here I can thrive because I can teach the curriculum the way I want.”

While Ms. Quintana still basks in the afterglow of being called and treated like a legend by the Chicago Bears, she hastens to add, “Teaching is its own reward. When you see the positive impact you have on a kid, especially when they come back years later to say thanks.

“My students know that Ms. Quintana is going to hold you accountable, but I’m also going to give you a lot of love. That’s who I am as a teacher, as a person.”