“Life will keep moving. It’s up to you. It’s your responsibility. Otherwise, it’s going to pass you by and you’re going to be left in the dust, passed by people who are making the most of their time.” These wise words were spoken by the Global Studies teacher, Mr. Pluchar, who has greatly inspired students throughout his many years teaching at West Leyden High School.

Pluchar grew up in Tinley Park, located in the South Side of Chicago, attending Andrew High School and University of Illinois. He enjoys woodworking, sports, and watching his students succeed. He is also married with 3 kids and a fourth on the way. Some may remember his long brown hair, but it is now cut short. He’s usually dressed in a casual hoodie and jeans, very comfortable. This represents him well because he is a very comfortable person to be around, very laid back and a good listener. He loves discussing different topics and beliefs, you will notice he is very informed on things, making him a very interesting person to talk to. Mr. Pluchar believes it is very important that he implants good values for the younger generation, and honestly, he succeeds in this.

Pluchar believes the way you raise your kids will determine how they navigate issues and problem solve: “We sometimes have to let our kids struggle. I think adults, grown ups, teachers; whatever way you want to look at it, they jump in and help kids before they even have a chance to struggle through something.” He continues, “The kid learns to rely on other people to kind of solve their problems for them” Letting our kids struggle. It may sound insensitive to some but it is a great way to let your child adapt and grow when it comes to everyday obstacles. Yes, we can comfort children when they need it and help them when they ask, but allowing them room to figure things out for themselves is essential.

Mr. Pluchar is always proud to see that his teaching has made an impact on a kid: “One time in my law class, I was explaining something called the “vicious cycle”; if you don’t do well in high school, you’re not going to be able to do anything post-secondary after high school. Whether that’s going to college or getting a good job, and if you don’t do that, then you kind of are forced to live in certain communities or certain areas of the world because of affordability.” This is something that’s truly not talked about enough. We often think as teenagers that school is a waste of time, but that ideology will hold us back from ever truly succeeding. We are capable of so much and have so many opportunities in highschool. If you don’t take advantage, you will look back with regret. He went on to explain, “One of my law students went home and talked to her parents after the lesson, asking about when they immigrated here to the United States. She said that it really struck a chord with her in terms of focusing on her education, why her parents moved here, and the reason why they wanted her to do well in school, so that she could do better than they did. She was quite tearful in her explanation of that, really driving the point home about why she needs to focus on school.”

A big part of being a teacher is guiding them on the long path to their dream job or whatever they plan to do after high school. It is important that teachers foster a sense of hope in students about their future and make sure they believe they can succeed, just like Mr. Pluchar has done. Well, the reason teachers set out to do this is because teachers have also been on that same path: “When I was really young, I wanted to be a sniper in the military because I thought that was a cool job. Then I wanted to be a professional athlete, then a scientist, then eventually, throughout high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I was just like ‘You know what? I’m gonna go to a good college where they’ve got a lot of opportunities, and I’ll figure it out there.’ So while I was there, I was like, ‘I really like explaining things. I like social studies and politics, that’s just what I am drawn to.’”

So, now that we have these big ambitions, how exactly do we push ourselves to actually achieve them? There are a lot of things Pluchar believes are important to keep in mind when thinking about this: “Prioritize. Figure out what’s most important to you, what do you get the most joy out of? What is most beneficial to you? Colleges will be there. They’re not going to reject you because you did two sports instead of three. They’re not going to reject you because you have 50 community service hours instead of 75. Prioritize. Get sleep, get rest, and focus on what makes you happy.” Prioritizing is a great word to describe high school for almost every teenager. That’s really all it’s about: a constant choice between school and social life. Will you get your homework done when you get home, or should you save it for later and go out with your friends? Should I make sure my grades come first or my personal life? What is the most important to you right now?” Mr. Pluchar went on with his beneficial lecture: “High school can be a very short time. If you’re having a good time and you’re doing what you need to do, it can be very fun. If you’re stressed and you’re struggling, it can be the longest four years of your life. So I think if you are able to prioritize what you want to do, prioritize what makes you happy, prioritize your family, your friends, your sleep, getting your academics taken care of, and all the other things will kind of fall into place. If you’re staying up late, you’re burning the candle at both ends. Eventually, you’re going to run out of energy, and you’re not going to have anything to give to anything or anyone.”

Pluchar’s classroom is a very calm and positive environment: hanging lights on the ceiling and cool posters. It’s a great place for the students to learn! But, there is no such thing as “perfect”, and teaching can get messy fast: “A fight broke out in my room once. Thankfully, the student that was doing the most of the fighting was shorter, smaller, so I was able to easily, kind of get him off the other student and diffuse the situation. We’re prepared for weird answers and bad responses, we know that high school kids say things they’re not supposed to say all the time. But a fight, you’re not ready until you see your first one. You don’t really know how you’re going to respond, or how quickly you’ll react, or anything like that. You hope it’ll be quick, and you hope you know exactly what to do, but in the moment, you never know if your fight or flight is going to kick in. Am I going to jump in and break it up right away? Some people panic, you know what I mean?”

So, now we know teaching can be pretty stressful, but Mr. Pluchar has learned some tips over his years at Leyden: “My first couple years of teaching I was getting here at 6 am and staying here till like eight or nine o’clock at night, trying to get grading done and get prep work done. Now, I’m at the point — not that I would do this — but I could walk in completely unprepared the day of and be able to make it through the day just from having done it so many times and knowing the material a lot better than I did my first couple years. It just gets easier because you get better, you know the material better. You become more confident in what you’re doing. You’ve got more of a reserve of materials kind of built up that you can use, you know, to kind of fall back on”. This is something that should be kept in mind when you feel nothing is working out for you. When you are stressed by a job or ever believe you can’t do something, it always gets easier.

Mr. Pluchar has a lot more in common with the students he teaches than most people would have thought. He has had to deal with the struggle of balancing work and home life, motivating himself to work hard, and fighting the urge to procrastinate. Conversing with him is a privilege, he is filled with knowledge and is such a genuine person. His wise words can help a lot of people and knows from experience how hard school can be. He has found a way past all of these obstacles by always having one quote in mind: “Just keep trucking.”