Arriving at Huntley High School back in 2009, social studies teacher Bradley Aney has had a major role in the school that, over time, has only gotten bigger and bigger. Currently, Aney is a head football coach, the traveling program coordinator, a Link Crew teacher, the teacher union president, assistant athletic director, the Raider Nation sponsor, and on top of that, a teacher. 

He knew coming here that he wanted to be involved with the school, but he never thought that it would be to this extent. Coming into it, he knew that he wanted to make HHS his second home. 

Aney is really passionate about making the building as comforting, safe, and welcoming as he can and all these roles help him to accomplish that. They also provide their own opportunity for Aney to make a difference. 

“Union president allows me to make a difference in the lives of the teachers. Coaching allows me to make a difference in the lives of the players. Link Crew allows me to build leaders and transition freshmen into the building and make a positive culture,” Aney said. 

Next season, he will be going from the freshman football head coach to the JV head coach. He always tries to instill life lessons into his players, using football to shape them to become better citizens and leaders outside of the football field. 

Aney also had the opportunity to become one of three Link Crew teachers when the teacher at the time stepped down. He was asked due to his outgoing personality. Beforehand, his room was a class for advisory where Aney got to see Link Crew first hand.

“I loved the impact that the juniors and seniors had when they talked to the freshman so I thought that this could be an opportunity to use my personality and my relationship with students to build more of an accepting culture at HHS,” Aney said. 

He also does a lot of work behind the scenes with his roles of assistant athletic director and union president. He has regular meetings with the district administrators and the building association representatives, handles communications with teachers, and is a major part in the teacher negotiation process. 

As the assistant athletic director, Aney creates schedules for home events, schedules summer camps and facility use, and plays a supervisor role at home events where he regulates them and deals with any problems. 

Aney truly is doing it all here at HHS and is able to do so by staying organized as much as three to four weeks ahead of time and by always making sure he has time to unwind and recharge as to not get too overwhelmed. He also has a very supportive family which helps make it easier for him. 

“Having a very strong foundation at home mixed with the fact that I am very focused on being organized here at school allows me to accomplish everything that I’m trying to,” Aney said.