For retired high school teacher and principal Frank Babich, it has always been all about the students. He retired as principal of Yorkville High School in 2003 after 37 years of service to the Fox Valley.
From 1966 to 1985, he was a teacher and an assistant principal at East Aurora High School in Aurora, and transitioned to the principal’s chair in Yorkville from 1985 until 2003. But by his own admission, he was always a teacher at heart. During a recent conversation with Babich, he admitted that becoming a teacher was probably what he “was meant to do.”
He graduated from Downers Grove High School in 1961, having been interested in science before and during his high school years. He then became a student at the University of Illinois in Champaign, and initially was a physics major.
During his junior year, Babich decided to “give education a try,” possibly influenced by his dad’s success as a high school teacher, and chemistry became more his focus. As a senior, he was offered a teaching position in East Aurora School District 131, and moved to Aurora in 1966 to begin his career at East Aurora High School.
It was the beginning of his amazing career of service and positive leadership in Aurora and, eventually, the entire Fox Valley.
From 1966 until 1971, Babich taught chemistry and advanced chemistry at East High. He remembered that “those years were wonderful … they were a gift to me, and it was fabulous. I loved teaching.”
But after five years in the classroom, he became assistant principal for discipline at the school, knowing that he “always thought he was going to do more in education than just teach.” This marked the start of his 32 years of stellar educational leadership in the Fox Valley.
His role changed at the school when he became assistant principal for student activities and teacher evaluation in 1974. He worked “behind the scenes” in this position at the school until 1985, and it was during this time that I met him when I became a teacher at the school. I soon learned that Frank was the guy to go to with almost any kind of situation. He was a problem-solver, and his calm demeanor was a strong point as he served the students and faculty.
The longtime East Aurora principal retired in 1984, and Babich was one of the applicants for the position. He recalled that “I did my best to earn the right to have the job as principal, but someone else was chosen.” If he were to be a high school principal, it would have to be somewhere else, and in the fall of 1985, he became the principal of Yorkville High School.
“It was difficult to leave East Aurora,” he said. “I loved being there. The faculty was awesome, and I had so many friends. But I loved the kids.”
Starting a new job would be difficult for almost all of us, but Babich did well during his transition.
“My first year was challenging, but I was never discouraged,” he said. “I loved it there, just as I had at East Aurora. Being a high school principal was the pinnacle. I had no interest in being in a central office because I wouldn’t be with kids.
“I always wanted the best for my kids,” he said. “I was very good at hiring good teachers … the best teachers and the best people for our culture in the school.”
His love of being in the classroom never really changed, so during almost all of his years as a school administrator, he continued to teach chemistry in night classes at Waubonsee Community College from 1972 until 2001. He also taught education classes at Aurora University from 1991 until 2002.
I asked Babich what I thought would be a difficult question: Can you briefly summarize your philosophy of education? It was not at all difficult for him.
“I’ve subscribed to the theory that if the students don’t learn the way you’re teaching, then teach them the way they learn. That’s the answer to teaching,” he said. “You have to always be willing to change and adapt. To me, change is good.”
Over the years, I have talked with people who had Frank Babich as a teacher at East Aurora and at Waubonsee College. Without exception, all have remembered what an outstanding teacher he was, and what a good experience they had in his classes.
In addition to his thought that teaching was what he was meant to do, he offered that “next to my wife and family, teaching was the love of my life.”
Tom Strong is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
