EDITOR’S NOTE: St. Joseph-Ogden will induct five new members into its Hall of Fame on Sept. 15, 2023 at halftime of the school’s homecoming football game against Chillicothe IVC. The new inductees are Brian Allen (Class of 1993), Jerry Hewerdine (teacher and coach), Marvin Lee Flessner (Class of 1951), Susan Pensinger (teacher and coach) and Randy Wolken (Class of 1968). Today’s profile: Susan Pensinger.
By FRED KRONER
In retirement, Susan Pensinger is doing exactly what she did for 33 years.
She’s teaching.
After spending her entire career in education at St. Joseph-Ogden – primarily in the English Department – Pensinger retired as a full-time instructor in the spring of 2014.
She has been back each of the succeeding nine years as a substitute. Some were long-term assignments. Pensinger filled four maternity leaves, one one-semester vacancy and, last fall, handled a paternity leave.
She has found one benefit of substituting.
“I have the chance to get into other areas of the building,” Pensinger said. “I’ve been in ag, business and Spanish. I will go anywhere.”
Pensinger is one of five individuals who will be inducted into the SJ-O Hall of Fame at halftime of the Spartans’ homecoming football game on Friday (Sept. 15).
Raised on a farm in rural Bushnell, Pensinger’s chosen profession was almost a matter of destiny.
She is a fifth-generation educator.
She followed in the footsteps of her mother (Deedee Pensinger), who taught English in Bushnell; her maternal grandmother (Ruth Rogers), who taught kindergarten and first grade at Industry; her maternal great-grandmother (Ida Steach), who taught all grades in a one-room schoolhouse in Marietta; and her maternal great, great uncle (George Laney), who taught at a one-room schoolhouse in Rockville, Ind.
“I knew in second grade I wanted to be a teacher,” Susan Pensinger said. “It had a lot to do with my mother and grandmother. In the early ‘60s, I went to school with my grandma.”
She learned at an early age how teachers were able to impact the lives of students.
“Those two (her great-grandmother and her grandmother) and my mom were loved and respected,” Pensinger said, “and I loved to read and write.”
A Class of 1977 graduate from Bushnell Prairie City, Pensinger was in high school during the implementation of Title IX, which created interscholastic athletic opportunities for girls.
She earned a total of 10 varsity letters while participating in volleyball, basketball, softball and track and field.
Pensinger found her way to Champaign County to attend the University of Illinois and eventually made her permanent home about 150 miles east of where she was raised.
After graduation, she had to survive a first year where her teaching status was considered temporary.
“I covered a one-year leave of absence,” Pensinger said, “but the lady I replaced did not return.”
When originally interviewed by former St. Joseph-Ogden administrators Bob Yeazel and Dale Doehring, she had one advantage over other applicants.
At the UI, she had majored in P.E. and minored in English.
The opening at SJ-O was split between P.E. and English.
“That’s what got me in the door,” said Pensinger, who immediately joined the Spartans’ coaching staff. She was one month shy of her 22nd birthday.
Rosalie Fisher was the chair of the English Department when Pensinger arrived and helped the newcomer feel comfortable.
“’She was instrumental in welcoming me and keeping our department strong over the years,” Pensinger said.
Pensinger was an assistant coach for nine years in both volleyball and girls’ basketball.
When asked if her hiring at SJ-O was contingent on accepting coaching assignments, Pensinger said, “it was greatly encouraged.”
That was OK with her.
“I was wanting to coach,” she said. “Originally, I thought I’d do P.E. and coach.”
Jim Acklin was SJ-O’s head coach in girls’ basketball from 1980-88.
“She and I both had more of an old-school mentality,” Acklin said. “She had old-school expectations, but could wrap an arm around a kid when they needed that.
“She had the right mix, and had a great sense of humor.”
English Department colleague Ryan Searby found there were limits to what Pensinger considered funny.
“She loves her coffee,” Searby said. “She’d brew it in her room and was a don’t-talk-to-me-until-I’ve-had-coffee person.
“Being a young teacher, I thought one April 1st I would take her coffee and hide it, leaving some clues where it was.
“That was a mistake. When I saw the practical joke was going awry, I quickly apologized.”
And retrieved the coffee.
Pensinger’s priorities shifted as her job duties at the school were altered.
“I don’t know if my interests changed, but my assignments did,” Pensinger said.
She went from teaching two English and two P.E. classes to teaching three English and two P.E. classes, then to teaching four English and one P.E. class and finally to teaching five English classes.
“The transition was smooth. Grading essays and homework was different prep (than with P.E.) and I lost the fervor for coaching,” she said.
What she did not lose was the belief that her contributions could – and should – extend beyond the classroom.
“I’m not just a one-dimensional person,” she said. “I’m not just an English teacher.”
She replaced the coaching component with serving as co-advisor on the yearbook staff as well as later assisting with the school newspaper. Pensinger devoted 24 years to one or both of those endeavors.
The newspaper at SJ-O had been dormant for nearly two decades when Pensinger and Maria Peak revived it.
“Jean Niemann was instrumental in getting the newspaper started up again, as well as getting a class offered for students to work on both the newspaper and yearbook,” Pensinger said.
Among the students on the staff the year it returned was senior Jason Retz, now a teacher and coach at SJ-O.
“Veronica Harbaugh then took over when Peak left, and I was so lucky to find not only a wonderful, strong addition to SJ-O, but also a great friend to work with,” Pensinger said.
Pensinger didn’t need much convincing to take on the supervisory roles.
“Jean had been an advisor for the yearbook, and said it was fun,” Pensinger said.
She considered her extra-curricular roles imperative.
“That meant everything,” Pensinger said. “That’s what gets you out in the community. That’s what people see.
“I served on any committee where I was asked to serve.”
She was continuing a family tradition.
“I see it as being a well-rounded faculty member,” Pensinger said. “I saw that with my mom when I sat by her at junior high basketball games taking people’s quarters (for admission).
“I saw the respect they earned, from their students – present and former – their colleagues, their administrations, and their communities, and I learned from them how to cultivate that respect by working hard and being involved in the school community beyond my own classroom walls.”
Pensinger said if there was a formula to success in those areas for a teacher, it would go something like this: “get to know the entire faculty and staff, get to know as many of the students’ names in the school as you can – not just your own classes – eat in the school cafeteria, serve on committees, be involved in the teachers association, take tickets at ball games, attend drama productions and band and choral concerts, go to school board meetings and more.”
Pensinger’s work ethic can be traced back to her upbringing.
She was raised on a grain and livestock farm near the McDonough-Fulton county line, between New Philadelphia and Marietta.
“I have fond memories of the spring calves, the mother sows in the farrowing barn, baling hay in the summer, and being in charge of lots of mowing,” Pensinger said.
Brian Brooks, who is finishing his eighth year as the SJ-O superintendent, saw traits in Pensinger that set her apart from many.
“She was not only a great teacher, but also a great person,” Brooks said. “She had a unique ability to connect with every kid, no matter their background.
“She had the ability to hold them accountable, but they knew she cared about them. That’s your goal, but it’s one of the greatest challenges. It’s not easy.
“It’s what you strive for, but it’s still unique.”
Brooks said it is easy, however, to gauge the feelings of SJ-O students.
“During passing periods in the hall, almost every kid who’d had her in class would fist-bump her as they passed by her room,” Brooks said.
Added Searby: “She often had special handshakes for some of them.”
Searby said he had no hesitation in nominating Pensinger for the Hall of Fame honor.
“When they made teachers, they made her and broke the mold,” Searby said. “She is so endearing.
“She’d learn all of the students’ names, even if she was only there for a semester, and she would remember students from the previous year.”
In Pensinger’s spare time the past two years, she has worked with RSVP on a pen-pal project that includes exchanging letters through the mail with area fifth-grade students to help them with their writing skills.
A year ago, she corresponded with a male fifth-grader from Rantoul. This year she wrote to a pair of fifth-grade girls at Mahomet’s Lincoln Trail Elementary School.
She did not go into teacher mode when responding to a letter and comment on any errors in grammar or spelling.
“I do not do that,” she said. “They are fifth-graders and they are learning.
“I get a kick out of it. I will certainly do that again in the fall.”
The letters are mailed to the school address to keep a family’s information private and there is no correspondence outside of the school-year letters.
They only gather face-to-face once, in a meet-and-greet at the school near the end of the academic year.
Returning to her sports background, Pensinger got involved with the Illini Courtsiders in 2016 and serves as secretary.
Former Illini athletes Susan Bonner (Courtsiders’ president) and Becky Beach (Courtsiders’ vice-president) encouraged her to join the board of directors to fill a vacancy. They felt she would be a natural fit.
“I am an Illinois graduate who followed the (women’s basketball) team and fully supported all things Orange and Blue,” she said.
As for the Hall of Fame honor, Pensinger said it was “quite unexpected.”
She added: I would like to share it with people I worked with. English teachers Larry Williams and Ryan Searby were ‘my guys’ that saw me through to retirement.
“They really deserve a special shout-out and my thanks for their professionalism and friendship.”
Searby remembers a luncheon when he and Harbaugh were relatively new teachers in the district and shared the meal with veteran teachers Pensinger and Williams at Ruby Tuesday’s, in Champaign.
“When the check came, they sat it down by Larry, thinking it was Dad and Mom out with their kids,” Searby said. “Someone quickly said, ‘Please split the check.’’
If Pensinger had the chance to go back and do a re-start on her career, she’d follow the same path all over again.
“I enjoyed going to school as a kid,” she said, “and I enjoyed the daily interaction with the kids (at SJ-O), not knowing exactly what you would get.
“Sometimes, I had over 100 (different) students in a day. I really liked the high school setting, the bustling hallways, the 500-plus (people) rattling around.”
Brooks considered Pensinger’s Hall of Fame selection as a no-brainer.
“She is so well-deserving,” he said. “She made an impact not only with the kids, but also with the staff.
“She is an absolute SJ-O Hall-of-Famer.”
She is not going to rest on her laurels.
When the new school year starts in August, Pensinger will again be on the sub list for high school principal Gary Page to call upon.
It will be her 43rd consecutive year working in the school district.
My favorite English teacher! Congratulations Miss P!