Math teacher and Media Specialist selected as Teachers of the Year at Watchung Hills Regional High School
By Denis J. Kelly
WARREN TWP. – Math Teacher Susan Van Doren and Media Specialist Vivian Swartz have been selected as Teachers of the Year for the 2014-2015 School Year at Watchung Hills Regional High School.
This is the second time that Van Doren has been selected as Teacher of the Year at Watchung Hills. She was also selected for the honor for the 2001-2002 School Year.
By coincidence, both honorees are retiring this year.
Principal George Alexis said that the annual Teacher of the Year is selected by a committee of staff, including the previous year’s Teacher of the Year, from among nominations made by students, parents and faculty. Nominees must be faculty, including teachers, school counselors, nurses or librarians. Not eligible are the principal, vice principals, directors or supervisors. Among the criteria are that the teacher: Has high expectations for all students; differentiates instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners; makes learning authentic and relevant; establishes a culture for learning; inspires a love of learning, and contributes to the school outside of the classroom, among others.
“Leaving teaching after almost 37 years in the profession is bittersweet,” said Van Doren. “But I am going out on a happy note having been selected as teacher of the year in my final year at Watchung Hills.”
Said Swartz, “When hearing there were two teachers named Teacher of the Year for the 2014-2015 school year, I thought how wonderful that two would share this honor. I never expected to be one of them and was surprised and honored to be chosen. What a special way for me to retire from a career I have truly enjoyed in a school where it has been a pleasure and a privilege to work.”
Van Doren, who began working at Watchung Hills in 1990, said that she has taught many Mathematics courses at many levels at Watchung Hills, and most recently she has taught Geometry Honors and PreCalculus/Trig accelerated.
Swartz has been on staff as a media specialist at Watchung Hills Regional High School since 1998. During her time at Watchung Hills, she has also been co-advisor of the Watchung Hills chapter of the National Honor Society, and co-chair of the Curriculum Committee.
Susan Van Doren
Prior to teaching at Watchung Hills, Van Doren taught at Green Brook High School for six years, as well as at St. Peter’s High School, New Brunswick, and at Bound Brook High School.
She received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Douglass College at Rutgers University in 1971. She completed graduate level courses in Mathematics and Mathematics Education at Rutgers.
Van Doren is a graduate of New Brunswick High School, New Brunswick.
She and her husband, Jack, have two children, and three grandchildren.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed 25 years at Watchung Hills,” Van Doren said. “I have had the privilege of working with two phenomenal department chairs – first, Bill Peiffer, and now, Mike D’Alessio. The support and guidance given by these two men has made my job very easy. My immediate colleagues in the Math Department make coming to work each day a pleasure. The students have kept me young and challenged. How could there be a better blend? I have spent my career teaching a subject I love to wonderful young people.”
Van Doren said she expected to be busy in her retirement.
“My husband and I love to travel,” she said. “Now we can travel in the Fall and the Spring when it is less crowded and better weather. And, we can go for as long as we want. I have grandchildren in San Diego, Calif., and McLean, Va. I will be able to read again. I love to cook. Stacks of recipes await me. Maybe I can take a cooking class in Italy. We live in a house that is almost 200 years old and needs our attention. I will be able to spend more time with my mother who just turned 89. The list goes on.”
Vivian Swartz
Before teaching, Swartz worked as a speech pathologist and audiologist in schools and hospitals in New York City, N.Y.
Swartz began her career in education in 1989 at Valley View Middle School, Watchung, where she provided supplemental instruction in language arts and math, taught language arts and reading, and from 1994 to 1998, was the media specialist.
She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Speech Pathology from Queens College of the City University of New York, Queens, and completed post-master’s work in Audiology at Queens College, as well. She received her post-master’s certificate as an Associate Educational Media Specialist from Montclair State University, Montclair. She also completed her post-baccalaureate work in elementary education at Kean University, Union.
Swartz is a graduate of Jamaica High School, Jamaica, Queens.
She has been married to her husband, Allen, for 41 years, and they have one son, Jonathan.
Upon retirement, she and her husband plan to retire to a 55-plus community.
“I plan to catch up on reading, and do some traveling in retirement,” she said. “My husband and I love film, so we look forward to having more time to watch movies. I also enjoy doing crossword and jigsaw puzzles, and am always working on one.”
In speaking about her time working at Watchung Hills, she quoted a Latin proverb, and gave insight into the perennial educator’s challenge, “Learn something new each day.”
“It has been a pleasure to work as a media specialist at Watchung Hills,” she said, “and I have enjoyed working with the students and teachers. There is a Latin proverb, ‘By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn.’ Indeed, one of my favorite things about teaching students how to do research and assisting them with their projects and assignments, is there is rarely a day that I, myself, do not learn something new.”
