The feeling of excitement for learning is palpable in his classroom. An eccentric and passionate English and creative writing instructor, Upper School teacher Wil Lobko is not one to take for granted.

Mr. Lobko didn’t begin his high school career like most. A self-described “misfit,” he moved around a lot when he was a child. When he moved to Syracuse, he accelerated into advanced English and Spanish courses, spending half of his eighth grade school day in his middle school and half in the high school. “I was hanging around with the next grade up a lot,” he said, “which was cool, but also made me a little different.”

Mr. Lobko always loved his English class. Now he adores teaching both English and creative writing. “I think that English and creative writing really require and reward scrutiny,” he stated. “You’re able, within the boundaries of a given course or even certain novels, to consider the biggest questions of morality, science, ethics and justice.” He credits his greatest teachers for encouraging him to teach. “The best teacher I’ve ever had though was Professor Epstein, a teacher of Religion and Hebrew Studies at Vassar,” he said. “I was really inspired by how inspired he was.”

With clear and passionate goals for his students, Mr. Lobko wants them “to feel that their ideas matter and that their ideas are always changing, and they should change, that the open mind is much to be desired. I want them to feel that they can pick up any text, and they can hack into it and make sense of it and they can do something with it, be it respond creatively, be it respond with an argument of their own,” he added. Discussion and the way people have conversations in his classroom are important to him. He said, “I also have a goal of actively fostering rigorous but respectful discourse. I think we do that really well at Hackley.”

He not only teaches his students, but his students teach him. Mr. Lobko remembers one particular instance when a student made a solid point and another greatly applauded such student’s comment. “The praise and the sincere appreciation that inhered in that sentiment! I was floored all over again,” he stated.

Along with teaching, he helps run and connect senior projects with twelfth graders. “I got involved because I love it here. So much. I want to give as much as I can to Hackley. I work with mostly seniors, so it made sense to make that an additional role I play,” he said.

There are a multitude of fun facts which define Mr. Lobko, including how he loves to run barefoot which he did frequently in high school. “It was really fun to do it in Manhattan when I would run from school across Central Park and then up through Spanish Harlem to Washington Heights and see how people would react when they saw me.”

Mr. Lobko also enjoys poetry. He said, “Poems really help me record and remember and process things.” He enjoys making and listening to music; his favorite bands are My Bloody Valentine and Neutral Milk Hotel. His favorite movie is The Royal Tenenbaums.

Overall, Mr. Lobko has thoroughly appreciated his experience at Hackley, and commented, “I feel Hackley is, in my experience, the absolutely best place to learn and work. Bar none.”