Jill Wadycki-Cruz was born and raised in Valparaiso, Ind. In 1997, Wadycki-Cruz graduated from Valparaiso High School and in 1998 decided to pursue a respiratory therapist degree at Ivy Tech Community College in Valpo.
At the age of 19, Wadycki-Cruz had graduated from Ivy Tech and began her journey as a respiratory therapist. Her career as a respiratory therapist consisted of tasks such as giving breathing treatments to individuals with lung issues, running ventilators, and helping in the emergency room.
A few years later, Wadycki-Cruz decided to change career paths and continued her educational journey at Purdue University Northwest (PNW). At PNW, Wadycki-Cruz majored in elementary education because she had dreamed of being an educator since first grade. In 2008, Wadycki-Cruz’s first-grade dream was brought to life when she got her teaching license and graduated from PNW.
After graduating from PNW, Wadycki-Cruz started her first full-time teaching job at Liberty Elementary School (LES) in 2009. Wadycki-Cruz decided LES was a good fit for her because she loved the Hobart vibe, their school spirit, that her best friend, Stefanie Osika, worked there, the homey atmosphere she felt while in the town, and the fact that she had student taught there.
At LES, Wadycki-Cruz taught second grade for two years and then first grade for two years. After having four years of teaching at LES under her belt: Wadycki-Cruz decided to apply for an open position in the new early learning center building that was composed of only kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students.
Wadycki-Cruz was offered the position as a kindergarten teacher at the early learning center building in 2013 and was so excited to teach in a new atmosphere.
“I decided to apply as a kindergarten teacher for the early learning center building because I loved the atmosphere and the teachers. Never had I seen such exceptional worth ethic and teamwork from teachers, it was amazing,” said Wadycki-Cruz.
Wadycki-Cruz also received her master’s degree in educational leadership from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2013 as well. With Wadycki-Cruz’s master’s degree she has the ability to teach kindergarten to 12th grade, be an educator at a university, be a dean of a school, and develop curriculum.
“I knew that with a master’s degree I would be able to educate the teachers of the future and inspire them to be great,” Wadycki-Cruz said.
In 2014, Wadycki-Cruz won Hobart’s Teacher of the Year Award and was so honored to be the recipient.
From 2016 to 2017, Wadycki-Cruz planned, researched, and practiced a better and more current way to educate today's youth. During that school year, Wadycki-Cruz came up with a researched proposal for the advocacy of flexible seating.
Wadycki-Cruz’s idea behind flexible seating was to break away from the educational tradition of children sitting at a desk all day and doing traditional pencil and paper lessons. With flexible seating, the kindergarteners were able to move around the classroom and sit in different types of seating to get both their minds and bodies active. Wadycki-Cruz’s idea also allowed her kindergarteners to be more active in the curriculum; like playing pretend and dress-up with lessons instead of strictly working with paper and pencils.
During the 2016-17 year, Wadycki-Cruz asked a team to attend a kindergarten convention in Las Vegas and take notes and their proposal with them. After the attendance of the convention in Vegas, Wadycki-Cruz and Osika gave the proposal to their school board and asked for grant money.
The following school year, 2017-18, Wadycki-Cruz and Osika received the grant money and were completely overjoyed to have made progress in the educational world.
Wadycki-Cruz and Osika found out they had received the $500 grant money during the middle of the 2017-18 school year, but could not wait until the next school year to implement the new seating. So during the middle of that school year, Wadycki-Cruz and Osika did an unboxing of what the grant money purchased for their classroom.
For their classrooms Wadycki-Cruz and Osika received wobble chairs, cushions, bucket chairs, and yoga balls. Wadycki-Cruz decided to implement and advocate for flexible seating because she felt it was time for the students to become more connected and comfortable with learning, while having a fun time.
“I wanted to provide a different workspace for them, and this type of seating gives them the opportunity of all kinds of different workspaces and choices,” said Wadycki-Cruz.
In 2019, Wadycki-Cruz was offered a position in a higher educational level of teaching – a job as a dual credit teacher at Hobart High School (HHS). Until this current school year, Wadycki-Cruz worked both at HHS and LES, but decided that this school year was the time to fully take on educating older individuals.
At HHS, Wadycki-Cruz teaches a dual credit course called Education Professions, which is sponsored by ITCC but the credits can be applied to any Indiana university.
As an education profession teacher, Wadycki-Cruz covers three courses: Introduction to Teaching, the Exceptional Child, and Children's Literature. Since Wadycki-Cruz’s classes only run in the morning, Wadycki-Cruz takes the afternoon at HHS to educate students who need extra help in most school subjects.