2025 Pretzel Winter Institute

Alex Valencic is an educator, former small business owner, Boy Scout, volunteer drug prevention specialist, unrepentant bibliophile, and a geek of all things. Although his professional teaching career began in 2008, he likes to say that he started teaching when he was just thirteen after his Sunday School teacher never showed up and he taught his class for six months. He worked as a substitute teacher for three years in Champaign, Mahomet, and Urbana, Illinois, before achieving his lifelong dream of teaching fourth grade, which he did for seven years in Urbana, Illinois. In 2018 he accepted the position of Curriculum Coordinator for 21st Century Teaching and Learning in Freeport, Illinois, where he not only supported innovative educational practices in the classroom but also oversaw the social studies, career and technical education, physical education, health, art, and music programs in the district. Since July 2021, he has been serving as Freeport SD 145's Professional Learning Coordinator, organising multiple four-day summer learning institutes, new teacher academies, district institute days during the school year, and supporting ongoing professional learning for all staff through a variety of differentiated learning pathways.