This story is apart of our ongoing coverage of 2024 retirees. More stories are soon to come.
Donald Prochilo, an esteemed teacher of the Glenbard East business department, is retiring. After 25 years of spreading his wisdom in the world of business, Mr. Prochilo has had an immense impact on his students’ lives, from teaching them how to type to filing taxes.
A proud Illini alumni, Prochilo graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in business. His business degree still lets him teach a wide range of subjects such as typing classes, introduction to computers, Microsoft Office, and speech with advanced technologies (SWAT). Later in his career, Prochilo focused his expertise on consumer education, INCubator, and sports marketing.
Throughout his years at East, Prochilo has made plenty of good memories with his students.
Alex Pruszynski, a junior, had Prochilo as her business and consumer teacher. “He’s a great teacher! He’s one of my favorites because not only does he care about you as a student, he also cares about your life outside of school,” she said. “He always has a positive attitude and he’s always open to help anyone with anything. He knows how to connect with his students and make sure that they’re happy and okay.”
One of Prochilo’s favorite memories with his colleagues was when a fellow business teacher, Mr. Biederman, lost a bet that resulted in him standing in the display case outside the dean’s office for one whole class period.
Throughout his years at East, an exciting event that Prochilo recalled was when the boys’ basketball team made it to the state semifinals during the 2000’s. He had students on the basketball team during that time, which made the moment even more important to him as he shared it with them.
While Prochilo will miss his fellow staff and students, the business teacher admitted he would miss more than just the school community: he would miss the food in the cafeteria and hallway monitoring.
Prochilo has more of an impact on the Glenbard East community, with his special traditions that hopefully will not leave with him. He looks fondly upon the teacher gatherings he planned and the Fantasy Football Loser shirts- pink with cats, made for both teachers and students.
His plans for retirement are simple.
“I’m looking forward to mindless activities that keep me busy but don’t require daily attendance. Random activities I can say no to,” Prochilo said.
Before Prochilo leaves, he wants to leave some advice. For the teachers:
“Enjoy the students. Ignore all the other stuff, because that’s what it’s about.”
For the students, he left four words:
“When in doubt, do.”
