Bolingbrook teacher named finalist for Illinois Teacher of the Year

Bolingbrook High School social studies teacher Colleen Guccione has been named as a finalist for the 2024 Illinois State Board of Education’s Teacher of the Year award after having been named Far South Suburbs Teacher of the Year.

Guccione has hired in 2017 by Valley View School District 365U to help establish an Advanced Placement human geography program at Bolingbrook.

Her curriculum-writing background proved useful as she faced the task of designing open enrollment AP courses for ninth graders in a school where most students are historically underrepresented in AP programs, according to a news release from the school district.

By the end of the first year, 250 freshmen had taken an AP exam. Now, more than 1,000 students later, Bolingbrook AP students regularly outperform school, state and national averages on the AP human geography exam.

She was named an American Geographical Teacher Fellow in 2022 and was a driving force in launching Bolingbrook’s chapter of the National Social Studies Honor Society and service organization Rho Kappa.

Her latest achievement is bringing the Illinois Global Scholars program to School District 365U , which will launch next year.