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OLHMS seventh-grader Valeria Martinez,13, of Oak Lawn, picked up her Dream Book and met the Chicago Bear’s mascot, Staley, at the school, 5345 W. 99th St., Oak Lawn. (Supplied photo)
By Kelly White
Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School teacher, Heather McCarthy’s devotion to teaching has scored her quite the educational touchdown.
McCarthy, who teaches seventh-grade English Language Arts at the school located at 5345 W. 99
th St. in Oak Lawn, was surprised when Chairman of the Chicago Bears, George McCaskey personally popped in to announce her as a Chicago Bears Classroom Champion last October.
“My principal, students, and coworkers all knew about the Chicago Bears Classroom Champion Award and kept it a secret from me,” McCarthy said. “When I logged onto my Google Meet to start teaching, I told the students my teacher controls were not working. I said, ‘I feel like we’ve been hacked. Nothing is working’. I could see them giggling and then my principal popped onto the Google Meet. After my coworkers also started joining, I knew I had definitely been hacked. My students call it ‘The Great Hack of 2020’.”