Patti Kozlowski has been teaching for West Chicago’s Community High School for 34 years.

And she’s the most recent recipient of the Outstanding Community Service Award. The award was handed out by the Illinois Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Association. Kozlowski’s expertise is in the family and consumer sciences.

The prize was granted not only for Kozlowski’s dedication to her position with the West Chicago High School, but to the community as well.

Kozlowski coordinates West Chicago High School’s SkillsUSA food drive. SkillsUSA is national organization of students, teachers and industry committed to ensuring that students excel and America has a skilled work force. Working with Kozlowski is a treat, according to Matt Ziffa, the president of the SkillsUSA chapter at the West Chicago High School.

“She is extremely motivating,” Ziffa said. “The students and Mrs. Kozlowski, we make a great team. It’s almost like a mentor/protege relationship.”

Three years ago West Chicago High School was given a federal grant to be used for a community workshop. It was perfect opportunity to work on another project, Kozlowski said.

“We started working with Central DuPage Hospital on a class community service program,” she said. “We made blankets for the newborn children to go home in.”

Kozlowski also helped with a local fashion show. It was a coordinated effort between the high school and the West Chicago Chamber of Commerce, she said.

“We had sponsors, of course, business such as Talbots, which donated the clothing lineup,” Kozlowski said. “We did have several pieces with unique character — fashions my students designed on their own.”

Much of the event proceeds were donated to a charity called We Grow Dreams, a nonprofit organization that provides training and employment for individuals with disabilities, said Dave Sabathne, the chamber’s executive director.

“The chamber has worked with Patti and her students for a few years now,” Sabathne said.

Kozlowski graduated from Northern Illinois University with a master’s degree in administrative education. As a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship in 1997, she used the funds to take up a slightly exotic activity — Kamishibai, a form of Japanese story telling.

Born in Illinois, she spent much of her life in Texas, eventually relocating back to her home state after her husband left the military. Kozlowski has two children.

“They’re men now actually, one is 38 the other is 35,” she said. “Of course to me, they’ll always be my boys.”