Streator High School’s Chris Aubry wants students to have a positive experience

Chris Aubry remembers when he was in high school, he looked forward to being in theater.

“It made me want to go to school every day,” Aubry said.

The Streator High School English teacher and library media coordinator likes the idea of giving students something they can look forward to.

When a student approached him seven to eight years ago looking to start a Smash Brothers Club to play the Nintendo game with friends, Aubry thought “why not?”

“The students toasted it,” Aubry said of the club he oversaw in the school’s library. “It was after school for an hour. It gave them a chance to have face-to-face interaction with each other and be social.”

From there, students asked Aubry if they could attend to play role playing games, then other students asked about card games, then board games, drawing, reading – and some students just wanted to watch.

Aubry welcomed all of them.

“It kind of flows in its own direction,” he said.

Now known as the Hub Club, the after-school group meets in the library on Mondays. Aubry, with the help of students, sets up the Nintendo on a projector screen, brings out stacks of board games and supplies the group with bags of chips to snack on or stacks of comic books to feed their intellect.

Dozens of students attend each week, including new faces on a semi-regular basis.

Aubry’s colleagues admire what Hub Club has become.

“Through Hub Club, Chris has provided a home, a community, a place that this student demographic might have been missing as they aren’t interested in the traditional after school offerings,” said Ray Yanek, fellow English teacher and department head. “Again, Chris has dedicated his time and effort to give these students a place, a home. A place to share interests and establish friendships. All you have to do is walk down to the commons during one of these meetings and you’ll see how much the students appreciate and enjoy what Chris has created for them.”

That impact is not lost on students. They also appreciate Aubry provides a space for their interests.

“He’s here to chill with us,” said Jayden Burnley, a senior, who said she hasn’t missed a Hub Club meeting in her four years. “It’s an important thing to me, coming here every year. The only other club I go to is Art Club, and there’s not a lot of other people in it. I’ve met a lot of new people and made a lot of good friends.”

Burnley’s experience provides an example of why Aubry wants to keep the club strong. He said he likes seeing students find shared interests with each other and discover new friends.

“Our students do a lot of socializing over social media, but as far as face-to-face interaction, that can be lacking,” said social worker Carol Phelan. “Mr. Aubry has created a safe place for this. I invite my social work students to attend so they can work on the basic social skills of greeting someone and making small talk over a game.”

Aubry said he got into teaching, because he wanted to have more positive interactions on a daily basis.

He was working at Choices mental health clinic in Ottawa as an activities therapist, but the position could be emotionally heavy at times. His co-worker was teaching at LEASE and encouraged him to get his teaching certificate.

In his English classroom, Aubry keeps the spirit of trying to keep everything fun. For example, he created a game for his students to learn about the class system as they read “The Great Gatsby.”

“I’m not sure I have a specific philosophy,” Aubry said of his teaching. “I just want to do a good job. I want to make sure I’m teaching the subject the best I can.”

Aubry puts an emphasis on gaining experience.

Along with Hub Club, he created the Book-A-Roo Bonzai. Through this program, he facilitates a field trip each semester for students who have been caught reading for pleasure. Names are collected by teachers and students and entered into a drawing. Those students are then selected for the trip, which is usually to bookstores, comic book stores, and other shops, usually in Bloomington-Normal.

“There is nothing better than wandering through bookstores, finding all the new stories and books and just being a part of that reading culture,” Yanek said. “Unfortunately, with technology, that excitement of wandering the stacks is becoming lost. Chris, however, is still keeping that alive and allowing the kids to experience the adventure of a bookstore. It’s an experience that these students might not otherwise have gotten to experience at this age.”

Principal Amy Jo Mascal commended both the Hub Club and Book-A-Roo Bonzai, noting it took the right person, such as Aubry, to get it started and lead it to success. Being the library media coordinator, Aubry engages with students on what they are reading and does what he can to encourage their interest, even getting their input on how to stock the library.

“As (gaming) is a passion of Mr. Aubry’s as well, the students thrive in Hub Club,” Mascal said. “We have worked diligently over the last five years to make sure that students have trusting relationships with the adults in the building, and this is one example of how that has grown.

“Book-A-Roo Bonzai’s impact was to celebrate and demonstrate the love for reading among our youth still exists,” she added. “This program supports students who enjoy reading for pleasure by enhancing that passion with visits to bookstores and money to purchase more books. Being not only an English teacher, but also the manager of our Library Media Center, ties all of this together for Mr. Aubry to be the exact right person to launch the the program.”

Aubry also is the man behind the school’s Positive Action Committee Twitter account, sharing the positive stories throughout the school, and also the one responsible for putting birthday signs on students lockers.

At the end of the day, he wants students to have a positive experience and celebrate their interests, whatever those may be, because he remembers his time as a student and what inspired him.

“Every student deserves to have something that inspires them to come here.”