Mr. Luke Norcia’s dream job was either coaching or teaching. It has come as a welcome surprise to know that he is now both at Mount Carmel.
Mr. Norcia graduated from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2020 and majored in physical education and health. After his graduation, he put his major to work by coaching basketball for two years at his alma mater. On the side, he was a full-time elementary school substitute in La Crosse. He moved back to the Chicago area and began coaching at Lake Forest College for another two years. Additionally, Mr. Norcia also became a full-time middle school teacher in Winnetka. This past June he became an assistant coach for MC’s varsity basketball team under Mr. Phil Segroves. Just recently, Mr. Norcia was made an extended substitute for freshmen math courses. After his time at MC, he is planning on beginning a new job in sales.
“I’ve had plenty of experience in classrooms,” says Mr. Norcia, “especially in adapting to different classrooms and different students all the time.”
Upon entering an MC classroom on November 4th, Mr. Norcia had to adapt quickly. His first day of teaching was a week-and-a-half away from Trimester 1 finals, and he had to prepare his classes.
“My main objective when I got here was to make sure that right when they walked into the door, we were going over problems,” Mr. Norcia says.
On one hand, it was necessary for Mr. Norcia’s class to clamp down on work. On the other hand, when they had to focus so heavily on finals, he felt that he did not have much time to get to know them.
“I feel like if you have a bit more time with students, then you could build more relationships,” he says. “After finals ended, it’s kind of been a bit more like that, trying to get to know my students.”
Given time, Mr. Norcia began to appreciate the strong personalities his class has to offer, and recognized that their cooperation during finals eased his stress as a teacher.
“The students were great,” Mr. Norcia says. “I think [fellow MC] teachers also made it a lot easier for me. I don’t think I would have had any chance of getting them ready for finals if it weren’t for the teachers.”
Mr. Bill Nolan helped by introducing Mr. Norcia to the rest of the teaching staff. Mrs. Jennifer Smola, Mrs. Valentina Sorescu, and Mrs. Margaret Joyce-Moroney provided opportunities for bouncing off ideas.
“They kind of structured something for me,” he says. “Once I got a week into it, I kind of had my own plans that I could use based on what they gave me.”
Currently, Mr. Norcia is teaching the order of operations, evaluating expressions, and solving equations to his College Prep-level classes. He’s also teaching domain, range, and function notation to his Excel classes.
The relation between sales and coaching is what caught the attention of Mr. Norcia. A sales representative pitches their products very similarly to how a college coach pitches their school during the recruitment process.
“For college, you’re selling to 17-year-old kids and their parents the campus,” Mr. Norcia says. “Once you get to actual sales then it’s just different supply and stuff like that.”
In preparation for his sales job, he has been researching what makes a good sales rep, networking, and revising his resume. Even though Mr. Norcia is preparing for a new job, he is still enjoying the time he spends at MC.
In college, Mr. Norcia became an adaptable coach and teacher. As he plans on exiting Mount Carmel, he is beginning to shift his sights on sales.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time at Mount Carmel,” he says, “so you never know what could happen in the future.”
