When the student becomes the teacher

Mike Swider’s relationship with JCYS has come full circle.

Growing up in Highland Park, he attended preschool at the JCYS George W. Lutz Family Center in Highland Park. After graduating from Ohio State University with degrees in education and ecology, Swider returned to Lutz–this time as a teacher. After teaching at the Highland Park facility for six years, he helped open the JCYS Michael R. Lutz Family Center in Wicker Park, where he has taught ever since.

“JCYS has been a constant in my life,” he said. “It has played a part in shaping my disposition, my sense of humor, and my perception on the world, with Jewish values in mind.”   

Swider is this year’s winner of the Sue Pinsky Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. The award, presented the JUF Education Department, annually honors a teacher at a Chicago-area Jewish early childhood center.

The Pinsky Award was named for Sue Pinsky Gardner, a Highland Park resident who taught early childhood education for decades at the Weinger Jewish Community Center. This prestigious award was endowed in honor of Pinsky by her son, Mark, and his wife, Lisa, through JUF’s Agency Endowment Program, to ensure that it is given in perpetuity.  

A parent of one of Swider’s students said this about the teacher: “The first thing you notice about Mike is how he talks to the kids. It’s a rare combination of straightforwardness, candor, and silliness. He never talks down to them. He sparks their curiosity and supports them in their discovery.”  

Nominations for the 2024 Pinsky award will open in the fall of 2023. For more information, contact Anna Hartman, JUF Director of Early Childhood Excellence, at [email protected] .