Sewing, cooking, washing dishes and balancing a checkbook are often skill sets that are overlooked while subjects like math, science, reading and writing are focused on during a student’s education.
But Paula Ziegler knows that when she retires from her time as the Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at the end of the 2018-2019 school year, she will have given her students a skill set that will serve them well throughout their entire lives.
After staying home to raise her three daughters, Ziegler decided to build on the associate’s degree she earned nearly 15 years earlier by attending Eastern Illinois University, which was a 2.5 hour trip from her home in Danville.
Pouring over the course catalog as she tried to make a decision on the best path for her career, Ziegler chose to follow her passion.
“I kept thinking (home economics) is the thing for me,” Ziegler said. “I love to sew and I love to cook and I love taking care of my kids. It was like it was my whole life right here.”
While at EIU, Ziegler also earned a business degree and her teaching certificate.
She immediately began to put her skills to work in the Danville public school system where she was a permanent substitute teacher who taught business, before she moved on to Rossville-Alvin Junior High and High School.
Ziegler came to St. Joseph-Ogden High School 20 years ago.
Around the early 2000’s the world of home economics began to change. In fact, Ziegler was part of a movement during her college years that wanted to see home economics changed to Family and Consumer Sciences.
She was one of the first classes to graduate from Eastern Illinois University with a degree under that title. By the time she joined SJ-O, the program had also made the change.
“We focus not so much on the home, but things that you could do for careers,” Ziegler said. “That’s why the name shifted. When the kids come in, we talk about it for their homes, but we talk about what could you do when you sew: fashion design, buyer, textile designer. The possibilities are endless.
“The change was really good because it expanded what we could do as a department. Most vocational classes are now geared towards employment.”
Freshmen at St. Joseph-Ogden High School are encouraged to take Introduction to Family and Consumer Sciences where they dabble in cooking, sewing and child development.
From there, based on the availability of classes in any given semester, students can take housing and interior design, foods and nutrition, growth and development or clothing and textiles as electives.
Ziegler teachers two Family and Consumer Sciences courses per semester, then she also teaches business, consumer ed. Or information processing (typing skills) during two class hours, then finishes out her day with two hours of co-op instruction where she supervises students who are testing out their skills in the workforce.
“I run all over the place,” Ziegler said.
But she loves what she does in the classroom.
“I really love teaching typing,” Ziegler said. “That sounds goofy, but I really love teaching typing. I just feel it’s so foundational, and the kids just don’t realize how important it is for anything else they want to do.”
Ziegler understands the importance of those lifelong skills.
At the age of 10, her mother taught her how to sew.
“By 12 I sewed better than her. I just took off,” she said.
Although she does not have as much time as she used to, Ziegler continues to sew today.
As a high school teacher, Ziegler has reached students at a different stage in their lives, but by introducing them to skills like cooking an egg, washing dishes, using a sewing machine or thinking about their financial choices and decisions, she knows that she has made an impact on their lives.
“The skill set you learn in here: it helps you be healthier and save money,” she said.
“If you look at the obesity rates in the United States, we definitely need to have more nutrition education. If you look at our child abuse rates; people need to understand how to take care of a baby and raise it, and that you can’t do certain things to it.
“Those things aren’t going to change. Those things are going to be here forever.”
Ziegler cherishes her time teaching things to her students because she knows that not every child has the opportunity to learn those life skills before they get to her class.
Oftentimes she’ll hear, “I didn’t know you could do that!” or “No one has ever talked to me about this before.”
“They just don’t get exposed to these things anymore,” she said.
Alongside life and career skills, Ziegler has also tried to throw in little life lessons along the way.
“I always try to keep my classes real,” she said. “Since it’s that type of class, you can talk about real stuff. That’s one of the things I like about this department. You can talk about stuff they can use later.”
Sometimes she uses her own story to illustrate the importance of sticking with a dream or a goal.
“It took me 18 years to get a bachelor’s degree,” she said. “I always tell them, I stuck in there for 18 years, you can too. You just keep doing little things to keep moving you towards your goal until you get where you want to be.
When she decided to go back to school at the age of 33, there were people who told her that she would never be able to finish.
But through the long hours in the car, the balance between school and raising a family, Ziegler learned that there are just some things that you have to find a way to accomplish.
“If you want to realize what you want to do in life, sometimes you have to work hard and not give up,” she said.
“I always want them to realize that they need to work hard; nothing is given to you.”
As students answer her questions about where they want to go, what they want to do and what kind of life they want to have, Ziegler is also talking to them about the importance of relationships.
“I always try to work in thoughts about being a good citizen,” she said. “I always tell them it doesn’t cost anything to be kind or nice to people.”
Being at St. Joseph-Ogden High School has taught Ziegler a thing or two about kindness in a working environment.
“Everyone gets along so well,” she said.”Everyone seems to work together here. Maybe that’s why the time seems to have gone so fast.”
Ziegler has enjoyed working with the parents of her students over the years, too.
“We have very good parents,” she said. “I have worked in places when you call a parent, you don’t get much of a response. I just never see that here. If there is a problem, I call the parent and they say there won’t be a problem later.
“That’s just terrific because then it’s like we’re all working on the same goal. We’re all working on that goal to educate the student as successfully as possible, and we’re not working against each other.”
Over the years, Ziegler has enjoyed watching students succeed on the football field, basketball court and in track and field. She’s also loved when students return to their alma mater to share their experiences in their adult life.
“Those things have just been fun over the years to watch the kids be successful, then they will go on and do all kinds of really interesting things,” she said.
Ziegler has finalized plans for what she might go on and do next.
Jokingly, she said, “I’m going to sleep for a year.”
But realistically, she’d like to pick back up on her sewing projects and travel with her husband, who is a pastor.
During the summer months, he has 10 speaking arrangements in the Midwest and East Coast. Ziegler said she would try to balance that with friends who want to come to their home on Lake Vermilion to watch the hot air balloons and fireworks.
“Summers are very busy,” she said.
“I have a feeling I won’t be able to sleep until August.”
