Mr. Rajan Sharma

I am very humbled and honored to introduce myself as the principal of Glenbrook Elementary School.  I can assure you that I share in our school's vision at Glenbrook that we will consistently work together to improve our students' educational and social-emotional experience.  I will be dedicated and relentless in working with our entire staff to empower our students to unfold their potential as unique individuals and to become leaders in our community.

I arrive at Glenbrook Elementary School as a seasoned educator and school leader. Still, in addition to my role as an educator, I am first a son, uncle, brother, and husband.  I come from an immigrant family that migrated to the United States from India in the 1970s.  I am a first-generation American citizen in my family.  My father was a Physics Teacher in India and then went on to teach in our excellent school district U-46.  My mother has always been my role model growing up.  My mom instilled many ethics into my daily life, including hard work and being relentless in achieving my goals.  I wouldn't be in this position without her love and support throughout my life and career.  I am very close to my family, and my brother is my best friend.  I am looking forward to introducing my family to our school family at Glenbrook!

The 2022-2023 school year will mark my 15th year in education.  I started my educational career as a one-one aide in a self-contained 5th & 6th-grade classroom.  I then moved on to be a substitute teacher throughout the Chicagoland area, and head varsity basketball coach at a high school in River Grove.  After I gained experience in a plethora of grade levels and subject areas, I moved into being a first-grade ELL teacher at a K-8 School in River Grove.  At the conclusion of that year, I moved into being a third-grade self-contained teacher at the same school. My educational career then took me to the West Side of Chicago where I taught Middle School Language Arts at a Chapter School for 7 years.  At the end of my 10 years of teaching in the classroom, I completed my Principal Leadership Internship at a High School on the Southside of Chicago.  After completing my internship, I continued my school leadership in Rockford where, for 3 years, my role was to be the Dean of School Culture.  For the past 2 years, I have been at Horizon Elementary School being a proud assistant principal for the Hanover Park community.  

My education background includes a Bachelor of Arts from Northern Illinois University with a major in English Education and a minor in Journalism in 2007.  I received my first Masters degree in Education from Roosevelt University in 2010.  I earned my second Masters degree from Northeastern Illinois University in 2016 with a concentration in Educational Leadership.

I firmly believe that every student at Glenbrook can exceeds and that the cooperation between home and school builds trust and self-esteem in our students.  Working in collaboration with our families, our students will then use their highest potential to shape their future, consequently the future of our community and our nation.  My personal goal is to advance the culture of excellence here at Glenbrook Elementary School.  I am devoted to continually exploring new ideas to meet the needs of all staff and students.  I promise to consistently interact with students, parents, and community members efficiently, keeping student achievement at the forefront of all conversations.  We will be meeting as the staff, and with parents and students throughout the year to identify specific goals in the areas of student achievement, school climate, and parent communication.

To conclude, please remember that my door is always open to you.  I sincerely welcome your conversation and input during this year.  Let us keep our students the primary focus of our work.  I can't wait to celebrate our collective successes during the 2024-2025 school year.

Sincerely,

Rajan Sharma, Principal