Ms. Kubik holds her daughter’s hand in the hospital after the sledding accident.

In 2022, social studies teacher Mrs. Robyn Kubik’s daughter told her she would be home in an hour, but she didn’t return for months.

At the time, Kubik was teaching at Warren Township High School. For 16 years, she rarely missed a day of teaching, but a tragedy forced her to leave behind what she loved to focus on what was far more important.

“I always say everybody got rained on during Covid, and then our family had another storm,” said Kubik.

Kubik’s daughter Allyson left the house to go sledding one day, and what was supposed to be a whimsical activity turned into a life-changing event.

“She went sledding with friends and got into a sledding accident. Within 20 minutes of leaving the house, she was on a Flight For Life helicopter,” said Kubik.

Allyson entered a two-week-long coma. It was impossible for Kubik to help her daughter fight for her life while also trying to teach high school students, so she had to step away. (You can follow her Instagram journey here.)

“You can only imagine seeing anyone you love and care for tied up to all these tubes and have no idea what’s going on,” said Kubik.

Allyson was sent to Lutheran General Hospital immediately following the accident and recovered at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in downtown Chicago. Throughout Allyson’s journey, Kubik wholeheartedly supported her with hope and love.

This hope and love was documented through an Instagram account in which she made for Allyson, friends, family, and others to follow during her recovery process.

“Hopeful for tomorrow. Allo strong,” said Kubik on one of her many daily Instagram posts, during one of Allyson’s harder days.

“Put a smile on your face and think of a funny memory with her,” said another post.

“Three weeks ago, if you showed us this video it would have been a nightmare. Today it filled us both up with such hope and promise,” said Kubik on a different post.

Kubik was not only trying to update people on how her daughter was doing, but also wanted to raise awareness to protect others, so that what happened to Allyson could be prevented.

Mrs. Kubik has mentioned that she taught various courses of AP Psychology at her previous job, and she uses her psychology knowledge to influence us to make good choices and be safe. This only explains a little about who she is as a person,” said senior economics student Bella Bosau.

She even started a tagline for Allyson’s recovery, highlighting the hope and love she had to share: “I believe” was the motto the Kubik family lived by.

Kubik started working again in 2023, filling in for a leave at Grayslake North. She also worked for AbbVie, the Milwaukee Bucks, and College of Lake County (CLC). Following that, she spent time working in counseling, putting her license to use. Her resilience and optimism are what brought her back to the classroom to teach full-time this year, for the first time since her accident.

It is obvious that she not only has confidence in her daughter but also expresses belief in students to succeed as well.

“I think she cares about us a lot. On all of our tests, there’s never a trick question or anything that stabs us in the back as I’ve had on previous tests,” said senior economics student Gabriel Donnez.

Kubik has got to experience new things at LFHS; this will mark her first year teaching underclassmen.

“At Warren, I never taught freshmen because there are two campuses, so teaching freshmen for the first time has been nice because they are early on in their stage Vs. I’ve taught mostly seniors who are ready to move on to something bigger in their lives,” said Kubik.

Since it is Kubik’s first year at LFHS, she is eager to get involved in the student body, as she was the Senior Class Advisor at Warren for around 10 years.

“I wonder what resources are available that I am not aware of, like participating in clubs and such. I signed up to volunteer for the senior brunch, and I just want to know more about the traditions at LFHS,” said Kubik.

Mrs. Kubik has faced adversity, but many are happy to have her here at LFHS for her first year back in teaching.

“This has been a pivot that I wouldn’t have expected five, six years ago, but I had to pause, kind of, for family and making sure my daughter was well,” said Kubik.