Mark Zacek

1st Year at St. Damian

20 years at St. Pius V.   

I am happy to be joining St. Damian School.  I grew up in Palos Heights and attended St. Alexander School. After grade school, I went to Marist High School and then to Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri, where I graduated with a  B.A. in History and French.  I went to the University of Illinois- Circle Campus for my M.Ed. I started teaching in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1986 and have been at several schools like Bridgeport Catholic Academy, St. Michael on South Shore, and St. Callistus.  In the early 90s, I taught high school at Colegio Santa Francisca Romana which is located in Bogota, Colombia.  I worked there for 6 years and returned to the U.S. in 2001 and went to work at St. Joseph School in Chicago for the last year it was open.  I then went to work at St. Pius V School in Pilsen where I stayed for 20 years.  

I have taught most subjects and have taught 7th and 8th grade for a main part of my teaching.  When I was at St. Joe’s, I decided to go back to school as a student to pick up more math classes, so for a few years I got to be a student myself .  I like working at a Catholic school because my faith is important to me and I want to pass that on to my students as they grow in their faith.   Email Mr. Zacek