Vic White had a short career as a teacher, but a long tenure as a school administrator.

One constant in his more than 30 years in education is his ability to learn while on the job.

And now, as he prepares to retire as superintendent at the Prairieview-Ogden School District, where he has worked since 1996, he fondly recalls the one point which has been reinforced since he first became a high school principal at age 25: White didn’t have all of the answers.

What he has possessed is the source to find those solutions. The key to where he has gone and what he has accomplished can be found in his willingness to listen to input from others.

White hailed from Tampico, Ill., the birthplace of Ronald Reagan.

“Back in the day, people would come by in droves,” White remembers.

He was one of the few who were present when Reagan returned to his hometown in 1979 to announce his bid for the Presidency. The moment left a lasting impression on the man who keeps a book written by Reagan nearby.

While Reagan’s presence is something White looks back on fondly, he knows that his course in life was greatly influenced by social studies teacher and assistant football coach Phil Wiersema.

“He was as close as you can get to a friend, but he’s really your teacher,” White said. “I could sit and talk to him.”

A star at Tampico High School, White went to college at the University of Dubuque with his sights set on continuing his athletic career while also getting a degree in education, focusing on social studies.

“I wasn’t big enough (to play football),” White said. “I realized that when I got hurt right away.

“I went from a small high school, where I might have been somewhat of a star there, to a small college where I was small.”

White didn’t leave his ambitions behind, though.

He went on to teach social studies and a session of P.E. at Milford High School. He also coached fifth-grade basketball, was the head track coach for the junior high school and was also an assistant football coach at the high school.

His work ethic did not go unnoticed. Milford’s principal at the time, Bill Hudgens, told White he thought he would make a great principal.

White listened.

“So I went and started working on my degree,” White said. “At age 25, they hired me as the first principal ever. They always had a superintendent/principal. The town was growing at that time with three canning factories.

“It was a great, great experience, but there were teachers who had been teaching longer than I was (alive).”

With only four years of classroom experience under his belt, White spent time learning from others in that leadership position, and has used that same mentality for the last three decades.

“Evaluating teachers was very difficult in a lot of aspects,” White said. “I tried to stay as much to the book as I could because I felt like I’m not a person to be telling them what to do.

“I was young and I needed to listen and learn. And that’s what I did for those first five years. You’re supposed to have knowledge about everything, and you really sometimes don’t.”

White said he offered his suggestions and opinions, but knew that the teachers and staff were the professionals. He wanted to offer them support rather than dictate what needed to be done for their students or the facilities.

His approach once again caught the attention of Hudgens, who suggested that White work towards becoming a superintendent.

While White and his wife, Sherri, were raising three small boys, he worked during the day as a principal, then drove back and forth from Milford to Eastern Illinois University to complete his degree to become certified as a superintendent.

The effort paid off when, at the age of 30, White was brought on as the superintendent at Prairieview.

“It’s a great community. A lot of caring people have very good values,” White said. “It’s about raising your kids from the values and the morals I think that are lacking sometimes today.”

By 2005, Prairieview and Ogden were in consolidation talks as Ogden’s superintendent, Jim Morgan, retired.

White jokes that he’s been superintendent of three districts while being in the Royal office the entire time.

In his 24 years at Prairieview-Ogden, White has wanted to be a fair administrator; one that students knew that they could talk with about what they did wrong and one that would be in the lunchroom where he can to catch up on life’s events.

“I go and eat with the kids every day for 24 years; if I’m here, I eat with the students,” White said. “I take turns at each table.The cook keeps track of where I’ve been and where I should go the next time.

“If I ever have had a bad day, that just makes me feel so much better.”

It’s not uncommon to see White outside with the kids, either.

When he’s in the building, he greets them outside as they arrive to school: rain, snow or sunshine.

It’s also not uncommon to find White shooting baskets or playing a “foam ball” baseball game.

He hopes that the students see that they can relate to administrators on a personal level.

“I also enjoy that experience of being with the kids,” White said. “I guess that’s one thing that I want the kids to always remember about me: Mr. White always took the time and sat with me and listened to me and ate with us.”

Since his first administrative position at Milford, White has understood that leadership means more than dictating from the top of the pyramid.

With Prairieview-Ogden’s South Campus principal Jeff Isenhower and the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High School principal Carl Heuer by his side, White has always hoped that the district’s vision trickled down.

“We have a solid staff here both certified and non-certified,” White said.

“My leadership is just guidance. I strongly try to do stuff by gathering input and opinions. I might not always agree with you or your opinion, but I gather that before I make a decision, and I strongly feel that that should be done more than trying to be led from the top.”

His methods, along with a strong team and a community that provides a strong foundation, has bred success.

White coached the Prairieview-Ogden Junior High seventh and eighth-grade volleyball teams for a decade, leading the program to 410 victories with only 60 losses, capturing 17 out of 20 IESA Regional titles and 15 out of 20 IESA Sectional titles. His teams also brought home five IESA State trophies.

Prairieview-Ogden has also been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for financial excellence annually since 2003 alongside consistently receiving recognition for academic excellence.

“I really strongly believe that success breeds success,” White said. “If you push that you want to be the best in academics, and you get everybody on board: parents, teachers, and all the staff members, it’s going to happen.”

By providing academic and athletic opportunities that bring out the best in students, Prairieview-Ogden is helping to raise well-rounded children.

White knows that the school district is just helping, too.

“I believe that the parents, if they have strong morals and values, are a big, big part of that,” he said.

White said that when parents engage with their children in academics, to achieve the results they want, students are going to reap the rewards. The same applies to athletics, as well.

“It’s the foundation,” White said. “You have to have a good foundation if you’re going to build a nice house. I think the foundation is the wonderful parents and grandparents that have morals and values.”

White’s values wouldn’t allow him to leave the district without making sure all of the pieces were in place.

Early in 2019, the Prairieview-Ogden Board voted to use the 2019-2020 school year as a transition year as Isenhower and Heuer move up in the district ranks.

“I want to give him a fighting chance where you’re not feeling like you’re drowning every day,” White said.

White has mentored Isenhower on all the paperwork that knocked him off his feet in his first year at PV-O. He’s also keeping a running list of what needs to be completed and when.

As an administrator, White has also set up the district for success in the upcoming years.

In the last 24 years, White has brought in $2.359,929 million, $98,330.37 per year, through grants to the Prairieview-Ogden School District.

The grants have brought in computer equipment, security measures, renovations to the gymnasium, new roofs, electrical upgrades, stop arms for buses, geothermal upgrades, SMART boards, defibrillators, energy efficiency upgrades and fiber optics lines.

White said many of the grants funded projects that the district wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

When White came to Prairieview in 1996, the district had $843,993 in reserves. When he hands over the reins in 2020, the total in reserves will at least be $4,278,537, but could be higher if early tax money comes in before July 1.

“We’ve built up some reserves in case we do have some bad years coming up where the economy turns downward and the state isn’t allowed to pay in or property taxes need to be brought down.

“I’m hoping that gives them that cushion for a few years. I would hate to walk away and, for some reason, 5 or 10 years down the road, they have to close their doors.

“I think it’s a great little school district, and I’d hate to see it go away.”

As White prepares for the next phase of life, he is excited to see what’s next.

He and his wife have purchased a property in Missouri along the Lake of the Ozarks where he can fish and they can spend time together.

White said he’s just going to listen to how things go. The couple wanted to make sure that they were within driving distance of their sons so they could see them on the weekends. Other than that, he’s not sure if he will try to teach at a community college or just enjoy life looking out from their dock.

“She had open-heart surgery last year,” White said. “And she was sick for a long time after that. When your spouse of 32 years goes through that, we’re going retire together and enjoy our life.”

The post Vic White leaves behind legacy of listening to others first appeared on SJO Daily.

There’s something about being part of a team.

It gives an athlete something to work for and towards. It is a place to belong and to grow. Sometimes teams are a support system for a moment and other times that support system lasts a lifetime.

Ogden’s Cory Abernathy has had the privilege of being part of a team his entire life.

“He is a talented player and worked very hard to become a skilled athlete,” his sister, Carrie Clements, said.

“I remember him spending hours dribbling on our rock driveway and shooting hoops well into the night, most times by himself because we got bored, but he did not.”

Carrie, the eldest of three siblings, remembers catching for Cory as he practiced pitching. That is until one pitch missed her mitt, left a bruise and their dad said, “no more.’ It wasn’t safe.”

A 1999 Armstrong-Potomac graduate, Cory took his skillset onto the baseball field.

Filling in on the mound from time-to-time, Cory shined as a shortstop with quick hands and feet.

He compiled a composite .380 batting average over three years as a varsity starter, averaged 15 steals a season and won the Armstrong-Potomac team’s defensive player award his junior and senior years.

The Trojans won regional titles in 1998 and 1999.

Cory also found success on the basketball court.

Starting his junior and senior year, Cory averaged 115 steals per season, handed out 200 assists and shot over 80-percent from the free-throw line in those two years, earning him a spot on the Vermilion All-County team.  During the 1998-1999 season, he led the Trojans in three-pointers.

Armstrong-Potomac’s current Superintendent — and the school’s former basketball coach — Bill Mulvaney remembers Cory’s impact on the program.

“Cory probably had the best season for a point guard that I ever coached in 1997-1998 when he helped lead our team to the super-sectional in basketball,” Mulvaney said. “He had 130 steals and 210 assists that year as a junior.

“(He) was a tremendous defensive player, ran the point guard position and directed our offense and defense on the floor.”

When Cory graduated, he was fourth on the IHSA leaders list for the number of steals in a season with 130; today that record is listed in a tie for No. 13 all-time.

“He has always been very competitive, and driven in every aspect of life, not just sports,” Carrie said. “Everything he has done, he’s put his best into it and works until he succeeds.”

But his legacy is more than just what he could accomplish on the court or the field.

“Cory was just one of those kids who his teammates loved, his coaches loved and his teachers loved,” Mulvaney said. “He was always smiling – always made other people laugh – can’t say enough about his quick wit and his humor.”

Mulvaney said he will never forget the bus ride home after Armstrong-Potomac had won the Gibson City Tournament in 1999 because Cory had the whole bus roaring.

Back-up point guard Aaron Hird was sitting in the front of the bus, near the coaches. Mulvaney describes Hird as respectful, even into adulthood.

Cory decided to play with Hird, though, knowing that he was polite.

“Cory started telling me and the whole bus about how I needed to discipline Aaron because he was cussing out the other team and how he was cussing at the referees and then how he was cussing at Cory when Cory told him to stop – he is just getting louder — the whole bus is laughing – I am crying, I am laughing so hard.

“I have never heard Aaron Hird cuss in my life and I have known him for 22 years.

“Aaron is trying to defend himself telling me and everyone that it wasn’t true – it was just so funny and I will never forget it.”

About a decade after graduating from Armstrong-Potomac, Cory stayed close, moving to Ogden with his wife, Stephanie.

Carrie, who said that Cory has done an outstanding job in everything he’s done in his life, also outdid himself when marrying Stephanie.

“She is absolutely the best person I could have ever wanted my brother to be married to,” Carrie said.

“She is kind, so smart, loving, a great mom, wife and sister.  I’ll never forget the day Cory called me to go with him to pick out her ring! I was thrilled for them!”

The couple have a third-grade daughter, Sydney, who attends Prairieview-Ogden, and a nearly 3-month-old son, Wesley.

“Watching my brother first become a husband was amazing,” Carrie said.

“I’m so proud of him: I have been able to watch him grow from a little boy and become a responsible man. When he became a father, it was absolutely incredible.

“I always told him, you’ll never love anyone like you do when you have a kid, and it showed on him! He’s a wonderful provider, caring, nurturing, sets expectations, and so loving, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”

Carrie lives across the street from Cory.

As her best friend, Carrie relies on Cory for advice and support. Carrie said that while their children’s ages are far apart, they are still raising them together.

“We spend a lot of time together doing all kinds of activities, from the normal holidays, neighborhood get-togethers, just stopping by to visit each other, and family vacations,” she said.

Cory, his family and his sister’s family are getting ready to head off to Florida for a trip to Disney and Universal Studios next week.

In that, Cory will miss the fundraiser staff at Prairieview-Ogden, Armstrong-Potomac and St. Joseph-Ogden have put together for him on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Cory has Glioblastoma, a very rare form of brain cancer.

The day his son was born, July 22, 2019, was the first day Cory had chemo and radiation treatments.

Prairieview-Ogden’s girls’ basketball coach David Lannert said while he coached with Cory during the 2018 season, he saw the competitiveness Cory possesses.

“This goes along with his personality, he is a fighter and, like I said, he doesn’t like to lose, so we know that he will keep fighting through this disease,” Lannert said.

Lannert wanted to make sure that the towns who know Cory best had the right opportunities to fight alongside him.

He got in touch with Jim and Jen Wagner of Wagner Signs and Graphics to see if they could design a shirt with “Never Give Up” on one sleeve and Cory’s initials on the other. The Wagners agreed to donate 10-percent of all sales back to the Abernathy family.

Lannert then began to raise funds through Facebook. He wanted to raise $2,500 for the family. As of Wednesday, the total was $6,800.

“It spread like wildfire and people are so generous in their giving, and keep in mind these aren’t just people who know Cory, there are some that don’t know him at all that are generous in giving to a good cause,” Lannert said.

Bringing together Cory’s love for the Prairieview-Ogden and Armstrong-Potomac communities, Lannert also organized the Oct. 15 (6 p.m. start time) game to honor Cory and to present his family with a check.

PV-O’s Superintendent Vic White met with Mulvaney, who said, “we have a lot of Armstrong/Potomac parents coming and his old teammates (high school friends).”

“It’s just the way small towns react to specific situations,” Lannert said. “It doesn’t matter if you battle each other in sports, live in a different town or don’t know the parties involved, small towns come together at critical times and the response and support is unbelievable.”

White then reached out to St. Joseph-Ogden High School’s Brian Brooks, who offered the high school gymnasium for the game within the hour.

“A huge thanks to Brian, Justin (Franzen, athletic director at SJ-O) and SJO for allowing us to play there on such short notice,” Lannert said.

White said there’s something special about the way small communities work.

“I strongly feel small school districts/communities come together to support causes a lot easier than bigger districts/communities because we know just about everyone in our communities,” he said.

White added that the response to support Cory is a reflection of what he’s given to the community for years.

“What impressed me about Cory was his positive attitude and his knowledge of basketball,” he said. “The players loved him and they would run through a wall for him.”

Lannert said the team is there for him.

“We are here with him through this fight, we will support and help in any way possible,” he said.

“Anything we can do to help the family is a blessing, this is the least we can do and I am very grateful for the outpouring of support that people have shown to help out Cory and his family.”

At this time, Cory “is doing well, considering the circumstances,” according to Carrie.

During next week’s trip, the family will focus on spending time together while Cory’s twin sister, Lori and her family will be at St. Joseph-Ogden High School for the game. Lori’s husband, Jake Cross, is the assistant coach for Armstrong, and her daughter, Ellie, plays on the team.

Carrie said that Cory’s team is vast.

“His wife, myself, my husband (Gabe who is the mayor of Ogden and childhood friend of Cory), my kids, his in-laws  (Ken and Maureen Brockway of Rantoul), his sister Lori, and our mom (Sandy Abernathy of SJ-O) all do the day-to-day things to help assist.”

“But on top of that, Cory has countless friends and acquaintances that are willing to jump in at a moment’s notice.

“My phone as well as my husband’s phone dings constantly with people checking in and wanting to do something to help.  Cory, Gabe, Steph and I have about the same group of friends and we would do anything for each other.”

“The saying “it takes a village” brings on a whole new meaning when facing a tragedy like this.  This is the absolute most terrible thing that could happen to a family and I can’t imagine going through it alone.

“It doesn’t make the heartbreak, the worry, or sadness go away; but helps ease the burden of the heaviness of it all knowing that so many people in our awesome community are praying, supporting and caring for him and all of us through this. I can’t imagine a better place to live.”

The post A Night to Honor Cory Abernathy: October 15 at St. Joseph-Ogden High School first appeared on SJO Daily.