1997 Benjamin Student Luke Kerber

Luke Kerber attended Evergreen School through 1997 and attended Benjamin School until his family moved at the end of seventh grade. He graduated from Jacobs High School, Algonquin (2005); earned his undergraduate degree from North Central College (2009); and earned a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in leadership from Aurora University (2013).

Family Ties: Sarah, wife; Rebecca, daughter, 3; Caleb, son, 2; Russ Kerber, father; Carol Kerber, mother; Vanessa, sister; and Sophie, niece, 8.

Career Highlights: Kerber currently is a freshman admission counselor at Aurora University, and has worked at the AU campus since graduation. “I love helping families and students through the admission and financial aid process,” states Kerber, who is a member of the Illinois Association for College Admission Counselors (IACAC) and tri-chairs the Inclusion, Access, and Success Committee which provides resources to high school and college counselors. “I am a huge advocate for underrepresented students and love promoting college to young people, especially as I visit local high schools and middle school campuses.”

Kerber’s college capstone paper was published by the school and is in their archives department. As a student he helped research the 150th anniversary of North Central College.

Favorite Benjamin District 25 Memories: At Evergreen, I loved the Field Days! As a patrol guard I remember thinking "man I am so cool." At Benjamin I remember being in the Chess Club and traveling school-to-school for competitions. Civil War days were a blast!

Some Of My Favorite People: Jackie Docimo was my kindergarten teacher and I still remember the months of the year and ABC’s because of her songs. What a remarkable teacher!

Rebecca Brooks, former Evergreen teacher, was the one who really helped me with math. She was fantastic. She always made me believe I could do it, even when I felt like I could not!


Jean Peterson, former Evergreen principal, was fantastic. I remember walking down the hall in my Green Bay Packer jersey together chanting, "Go Pack, Go!"

Mark Mason, former Benjamin teacher, inspired my love of history. I really enjoyed making the model castle in 7th grade. I look back and credit a lot of my early love for history to the experiences I had at District 25. When I was a student in college, history was my passion.

I enjoyed science with Chris Hlinak. Science was never my strong subject, but she made things fun and went out of her way to help me understand things.

How did District 25 help prepare me for the future? District 25 prepared me not only academically, but socially. Teachers promoted group learning and how to interact with people. I was a slow reader in elementary/middle school. Teachers pushed me to read aloud in class, even though it was uncomfortable, and would always make a point to go the extra mile for me and help my reading progress.