Former CPS teacher, CTPF Past President, and Trustee Jay Rehak retired after an illustrious 34-year career. Day one of retirement he jumped right into projects that he always wanted to get to but could not find the time.
During his teaching years, Jay authored the hit book series, Sideline, the story of a 12-year-old entrepreneur who helps her dysfunctional family survive. He also wrote 27 short plays and authored or co-authored 10 novels. In 2013, he created and co-authored the award-winning 30 Days to Empathy, the world’s first high school class sourced novel. His book How to Write a Class Sourced Novel is widely used in high schools throughout the United States and his TedX Talk on the subject of creating empathy through collaborative writing can be seen here.
Jay is full of vision and creativity. As he headed for retirement, he commented, “I thought about what I find personally fulfilling and how I could continue to make my ideas a reality.” He suggests that the time to start thinking about how you want to live when you retire is before you make that transition. He says, “while everyone needs to go down their path, start by thinking about what’s next and then actualize what you can do.” Specifically, Jay is turning his website laughsaver.com into an easy-to-use app.