For Naperville North Teacher Tom Champion, Learning Never Ends

For Naperville resident Tom Champion, the school year never seems to end.

Nine months a year the  teacher is in the classroom helping students master the complexities of biology. And for seven weeks in the summer, Champion finds himself on the other side of the blackboard as an intern at the Field Museum’s Pritzker DNA Development Lab.

“Right now I’m working in a group with two students and a researcher from the Field Museum, Dr. Kevin Feldheim, studying the DNA of white sharks to study overall diversity of the species and to see if the diversity has been affected by either environmental or human factors--these events may biologically be known as bottlenecks,” Champion said.

“Every day is just awesome. I haven’t been in a lab for 12 to 15 years and to be back in the lab doing research is amazing.”

Champion is in his second year with the Field Museum, serving as a DNA lab intern for the Pritzker DNA Development Lab. Last year he worked with the Field Museum within their systems biology program. A member of the Field Museum, he said he applied for the position one afternoon while visiting the Field with his four children; Gabrielle, 12, Cosmo, 8, Clayton-Maximus, 6 and Hudson, 4.

Champion said an extra benefit of his internship is that it allows him to better serve his students.

“Every year science changes,” he said. “Whatever you have already learned, there is someone else looking into something else trying to change what we’ve already learned.

"This incredible opportunity allows me to bring some high-level research and new technology back to the high school, which is great.”

For a man who loves teaching and often says that he has “never come home and not wanted to go back the next day,” becoming a teacher was not even on Champion’s radar screen while attending college.

“Originally, I thought about going to medical school,” Champion said. “But I had to be honest with myself. I had a classmate who was going to med school and he studied like it was a full-time job. I realized that was the kind of kid who went to med school.”

Instead, Champion earned a research degree and was offered a position at the now shuttered Michael Reese Hospital. He didn’t accept the position however.

“I didn’t feel it was right, I wasn’t ready,” he said.

Champion’s father suggested he look into teaching, which he did.

“I went to a teaching clinic and then on to  where I earned my teaching degree,” Champion said. “From there I applied at Naperville North, got the job and have been happy ever since.”

Champion, originally from Iowa, and his wife Nicole, an “old-time Naperville resident” and graduate of Naperville North High School, have lived in Naperville since 1995.

In addition to his classroom work and internship, Champion also visits area day care centers and preschools promoting the virtues of science through “inquiry science” demonstrations.

“I teach the kids by letting them learn,” he said. “Instead of textbook reading, I give the kids a problem and let them figure it out. It’s a great visual learning technique that works well.”

When not donning a lab coat as either teacher or student, Champion stays involved with the student body at the high school, serving as the head wrestling coach and lacrosse coach.

“I love coaching,” Champion said. “I’ve got a great bunch of fabulous kids and great athletes. It’s so great to see them grow and achieve.”