Member-only story
So Much More than a Math Teacher
A testimonial to James Kowalsky on the occasion of his being named Illinois Charter School Teacher of the Year
I met Mr. Kowalsky in August of 1990.
I was entering 9th grade and he was my high school soccer coach.
The first thing that struck me as a 13yr old: He was so much… fun? He had this floppy, dancy, joy of life out there on the practice field. My soccer coaches before (and after) Kowah (As the seniors called him) were all about making us run laps and hollering at us. Coach Kowalsky was out there doing these George Bush SNL impressions and cracking us all up. Then he’s teaching ball skill drills and telling us stories he picked up playing soccer in the dirt fields and streets in the peace corps in Ghana.
My buddy Hans and I are wondering: Are we even learning soccer? this was way too much fun.
Turns out we were: Our team went on to tie for champs in our little ISL conference that year and the next. Our starting midfielder, Gregory Coleman, went on to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force, and is currently a successful entrepreneur who’s been on Shark Tank with his work out app Sworkit. Sanjay our sweeper is a cardiologist in Orange County, and our keeper (Andrew) is a Doc working to improve healthcare data…
