White House visit a 'surreal' moment for top teacher from Fremd

Fremd High School automotive teacher Steven Elza has enjoyed quite a few unique opportunities during his time as Illinois Teacher of the Year, but his visit last week to Washington, D.C., and the White House was the highest honor of all.

“It's almost surreal,” Elza said of his visit, which included a meeting with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

Elza joined Thursday with 54 other teachers who'd won Teacher of the Year honors in the 50 states, as well as American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Department of Defense's American schools overseas.

When the time came to meet Obama face-to-face, each entered the Oval Office individually, from shortest to tallest. At 6 feet 8 inches, Elza was the last to meet the president.

At the beginning of his tenure as Illinois Teacher of the Year in October, Elza was advised to just slow down and take everything in. And right before he entered the Oval Office, he was told to relax and consider the president an ordinary guy.

“All I did was fixate on the president and shaking his hand,” Elza said. “I realized after that I hadn't even looked around the room. I told him, ‘Next time you're in Illinois, please stop by.'”

Among the other stops the nation's top teachers made in Washington were to the Department of Education, where they discussed the challenges and impacts of teaching, and the Smithsonian Institution.

While Elza has had many of the same opportunities and speaking engagements as previous winners in Illinois, his particular subject — career and technical education — has probably made him even more in demand.

“It's opened me up to organizations that don't often reach out to the Teacher of the Year,” Elza said. “But ultimately, it's about the kids. We show them there's a place they can flourish. We give these kids a reason to come to school and do very well. What we teach is almost secondary.”

Elza is continuing to visit schools to promote career and technical education programs — particularly where they've become underfunded or dropped altogether.

“We need to support the schools that are not supported,” he said.

Among the other fun opportunities during his time as Teacher of the Year will be throwing out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs game June 23, and attending NASA's Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, this summer. Space Camp will be something of a present for Elza, since it opens on his 35th birthday, July 18.