During the difficult transition from adolescence to adulthood, it is a struggle to decide what career we want to dedicate the rest of our lives to. Some hold tightly to their dreams and pursue it in the hopes of hitting big. Some may prefer to live less ambitiously, choosing a simpler, but content lifestyle. For College of DuPage student Lisa Palacios, she decided she was going to abandon her plans and see where life takes her. Soon turning 60 years old, it’s safe to say life carved out a fascinating path for Palacios.

For her whole life, Palacios has been actively involved in the arts. Growing up in Ottawa, IL, she often found herself engaged within her predominantly fine arts community. At an early age, Palacios discovered her passion for music, and that she possessed “perfect pitch.” An ability in which one can identify/reproduce a musical note without needing to hear a reference note. Palacios would continue to engage herself in a wide variety of musical mediums, such as the violin, viola, guitar, voice and even the recorder.

“I played alto recorder in a recorder quartet…I could play piano, but not well,” Palacious said. “So I think I’m gonna take piano lessons at some point. It’s just kind of self-taught. You find when you’re young that some things just come easily to you. And music came easily to me.”

In addition to performing with music ensembles, including the Illinois Valley Community Orchestra since she was 12 years old, Palacios was also involved in musical theater in high school. While Palacios largely played in the pit orchestra, she would also go on to act in them. Even sharing that she played the “beauty school dropout” herself, Frenchy, in a production of “Grease.”

Despite her evident talent for music and initial intent to major in it, Palacios’s passion belonged elsewhere.

“When I started college, I was going to be a music major. I play violin, and I decided to go to Illinois State because they gave me a full scholarship as long as I played in the orchestra,” Palacios recalled. ”And a year into it, I realized that I didn’t want to spend my life in a practice room and making no money. So, I switched over to elementary education.” 

While Palacios did have some experience in education from teaching violin in high school, she made this decision in a rather peculiar way. 

“I lived in a dorm, and I had a hat. I wrote on little slips of paper everything that I thought I might be interested in doing, and I put them all in a hat. I walked down my dorm floor, and I had everybody pick a piece of paper. I kept track of which one got picked the most, and elementary education got picked the most. So my entire career was based on me being a dork and walking around literally pulling a profession out of a hat,” Palacios laughs.

Becoming an elementary educator was a core highlight in Palacios’ life. Although the idea came about from slips of paper in a hat, Palacios said she had no idea if she would’ve enjoyed anything else better than teaching her fifth-grade students.

Palacios’ teaching style often found her stepping out of the curriculum to personalize education for her students so they could learn as effectively as possible. She found a way to keep elementary students actively engaged in their education, no matter how overexcited or difficult the child. Whereas high-energy, troublemaking students would torment some teachers, Palacios was enthusiastic to work with them.

“I call them ‘kids with personality.’ I loved kids with personality,” she said. “I just thought they were the best because if you’re a ‘troublemaker,’ that’s just energy that needs to be diverted into something else. So I’ve got to find something that you like, that I can divert you to so that you can be engaged in my class. And it may mean that I don’t teach something that’s in the curriculum for you.”

After working as a fifth-grade teacher for nine years, Palacios’ career evolved from local Illinois educator to improving the education students receive across the nation. She worked as the director of technology for the Wheaton Warrenville CUSD 200 and New Trier High School districts for eight years. She later worked on nonprofit contracts to help out struggling schools throughout the United States.

“When I became a consultant with American Institutes for Research [AIR], I worked on contracts funded by the Federal Department of Education [ED]. I worked with districts across the country on short-term, one-school-year contracts. I became director of a federal comprehensive center–$19 million ED contract to work with Michigan, Ohio and Indiana to ensure federal initiatives were being implemented,” Palacios said.

Having worked such a long career, Palacios was not shy in sharing her criticisms towards the modern state of education. Following the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, school districts began placing a heavier emphasis on improving the test scores of students. 

From Palacios’ observations, the shift to a stricter curriculum made for the tests hurt the organic, human learning experiences in education. There would become a greater emphasis on trying to memorize information as opposed to actually learning and understanding what was being taught; All to prevent facing punishment from the government due to low test scores.

“I just was stunned by how the federal government and how state governments bought into this,” she said. “We’re going to test the crap out of these kids! And these kids that don’t make it… we are going to take away the federal grants that are used to support those kids!’”

Frustrated with the modern state of education, Palacios instead decided to turn her life in a completely different direction.

“My take on education: Sucks. But I will tell you that when I was 50, I decided I wanted to be a nurse. This is my life. I do stupid things,” Palacios jokes.

“So I had to take [microbiology], I had to take chem, I had to take anatomy, and [physiology] one and two. All those classes, and I did them here [at COD]. They were challenging. And I was so impressed. I was so impressed, majorly impressed that COD really held the line.”

In addition to this, Palacios continues to take on music gigs. Whether it be performing in pit orchestras, or even in local community areas like Hawthorne’s Backyard in West Chicago. “My life is a situation comedy! I never had a plan. I think it’s completely unrealistic to have a plan for your life/career. You ride the waves, take the opportunities when they’re available, and try different things. Questions like, ‘where do you see yourself in five years’ are crazy! Life turns on a dime and what you do is dependent on your situation and abilities. I always jumped at opportunities to learn something new or do something different.”

Palacios encourages young adults to be adaptable and not measure success by the amount of time it takes to arrive wherever you end up.

“Just remember you’re on a journey,” she said. “And you may be in the left lane for part of the journey, and you may be in the far right lane for part of the journey. You might be stuck behind someone going 35 miles an hour in a 65 zone for part of the journey. But just persevere, and you’ll get there.”