Elk Grove High geometry teacher to retire after 42 years

Only one teacher remains at Elk Grove High School, who was there the day the school opened in 1966: math teacher Ken Rundquist.

For 42 years, Rundquist has taught honors geometry at the school, along with nearly every other math class offered. By his own estimate, during his tenure at the school, nearly 80,000 students have walked through its doors.

And though methods have changed, and textbooks come and gone, he still loves the subject.

"I love seeing kids get involved in doing math," says Rundquist, a resident of Sleepy Hollow, "and coming up with the answer."

Earlier this year, Rundquist received the keys to the city from Elk Grove Village President Craig Johnson, his former student, who called him one of the "coolest" teachers he ever had.

In fact, he has declared June 6 -- the last day of class at Elk Grove High School this year -- as "Ken Rundquist Day."

At a recent board meeting, both Rundquist and Jim Arey, who runs the high school's public service program, received the prestigious keys, for their roles in helping to shape the community.

"When I suggested this to my board, nearly half of them had had Mr. Rundquist as a teacher," says Johnson who had him for freshman geometry. "He's the kind of teacher everyone remembers. He's passionate about teaching, but he also makes it fun."

For Rundquist, he says getting students to understand the properties of geometric figures and discover the answers to problem-solving still drive him.

While geometry's practical applications may not be immediately visible, its academic importance is: nearly 40 percent of the questions in the math section on the ACT college entrance exam have some geometry involved, Rundquist says.

With that fact alone, he holds students' attention. After his retirement from Northwest Suburban High School District 214, he hopes to teach part time at a private school in the fall.

Over his four decades at Elk Grove, Rundquist has worked with students outside the classroom, coaching boys and girls tennis, as well as boys basketball and the math team.

This year, he coached the sophomore math team, which won its level in the North Suburban Math League, making a fitting ending to Rundquist's career.

"It's been fun dealing with students outside the classroom," Rundquist says. "You get to see a different side of them."

Inside the classroom, Rundquist continually tries to update and adapt his teaching methods to engage his students. One of his favorite improvements, is having students work on their geometry on the computer, using a program called The Geometer's Sketchpad.

They spend one class a week in the computer lab, where Rundquist has his students construct figures, and diagrams, using Sketchpad, to explore their mathematical properties by dragging objects with their mouse.

These discoveries made on the computer match the trend in teaching geometry, he adds, as emphasis on formal proofs has decreased dramatically over the last 10 to 15 years.

"Instead the emphasis is on problem-solving and discovering techniques," Rundquist says, "as well as on properties of geometric figures."

Though Rundquist concedes it will be bittersweet when he leaves Elk Grove High School, he will look back on his years fondly.

"My relatives tell me I've never worked a day in my life," he says, "and they're right. I have so much fun doing this, that it has never felt like work."