Jay Rehak gets top billing as he originated the concept of a “class-sourced” novel at Whitney Young High School in Chicago. Great teachers never stop learning and sharing. By that measure, Jay is the epitome of a great teacher. We’re grateful for the inspiration and direction he provided.
East Troy School District Administration, School Board, and Staff are next. The culture of innovation and growth in East Troy gave us not a moment’s hesitation in taking on this project. Specifically, thanks to Superintendent Chris Hibner, Principals Kevin Kistlaar & Stacey Kuehn, and East Troy High School Staff. Thank you to East Troy Education Foundation for its assistance in funding this project and Ivan’s on the Square for providing a wonderful space for our book-signing event. It truly takes a village, and we live and learn in a fine one indeed.
We’d also like to acknowledge Shanna Lewis and Brenton Martell of Strang, Patteson, Renning, Lewis & Lacy, S.C. for their legal advice and classroom visit regarding copyright and publishing. Thanks to Rachel Hunter for her robotics and programming expertise which helped flesh out Margo’s passions in the book.
Finally, we couldn’t have done this work without the many extra roles generously assumed by students including Carly Goetsch & Tara Johnson, cover artists; Emily Ermann & Caitlin Hunter, grandmaster organizers; Sarah Jergensen & Jayna Mueller, biographers. Special recognition to our student editors (First Draft): Eliot Felske, Carly Goetsch, Christina Nolting and Madeline Otto and (Epoch): Sophie Donegan, Isabella Garzez, Andrew Glass, Lexi Olson for voluntarily taking on significant amounts of extra work to experience the publishing process from the inside out and to make us all look good.