Through over 20 years of teaching, biology and anatomy and physiology teacher John Wojciakowski has perfected his art of teaching. Additionally, he brings his unique style and personality to athletes by coaching the cross country and track teams.
Wojciakowski has been running for a long time and hasn’t regretted it one bit. His passion for running began many years ago.
“I’ve been running since fifth grade. I ran a youth track program, [and] I haven’t really stopped running since [then],” Wojciakowski said. “My older brother ran cross country, and sometimes you just follow the route of your siblings. I just enjoy being able to push [my] limits.”
Wojciakowski ran cross country and track at Aquinas College and even earned All-American status for cross country by having a high qualifying Grade Point Average (GPA) and eight kilometer race time. Wojociakowski graduated and went into teaching and coaching high school students. Although he enjoys it, sometimes it can be challenging.
“Sometimes it’s like herding cats. The biggest challenge is getting someone to run to their full potential,” Wojciakowski said. “I try to get people to push their limits and to run outside their comfort zone. It’s hard sometimes, because it’s gonna hurt.”
Wojciakowski loves to coach the kids and enjoys helping them. Freshman varsity runner Beau Holmes has had an enjoyable yet tough experience running cross country. Wojciakowski has helped Holmes become a better runner than ever before and pushes him to his limits.
“I think [Wojciakowski] works hard. He’s committed to the cross country team. He doesn’t have to be there,” Holmes said. “He chose to be there to support us as athletes.”
Wojciakowski’s colleague Kristine Walendzik–who used to coach cross country alongside him–has known him for all of his 20 years of teaching. She has appreciated working with him teaching biology to freshmen.
“[Wojciakowski] is super hard-working. He teaches three different classes some years, so he’s got to prep [for each],” Walendzik said. “I know he spends a lot of his Saturdays figuring out all his classes. He coaches after school, so he’s super dedicated to the students. He gives up a lot of his time and summer to do summer-runs and meets. He’s just made to teach.”
His commitment to education didn’t start with teaching. Wojciakowski was the valedictorian at Lowell High School. This has contributed to his teaching mentality that he uses today.
“I’m sure there’s people that are way smarter and their brains are at a much higher level. But I worked hard, and I also push that in my classrooms. Get your work done and be prepared for tests. How hard something is depends on how much preparation you put into it,” Wojciakowski said.
