RV Teacher Aims to Impact Profession as County Educator of the Year

Sarah Sherman, an English teacher at Rancocas Valley Regional High School (RVRHS), is hitting her stride as Burlington County’s 2022-23 Educator of the Year (EOY). As a dedicated teacher and student advisor who already kept a busy schedule, her duties as County Educator of the Year have her moving at an even brisker pace to broaden her impact on today’s youth and the teaching profession.

In her role of Burlington County EOY, Sherman aims to support the newest teachers at RVRHS and to address vertical curricular articulation between grade levels. She has also joined a cohort of all New Jersey County EOYs. They meet to discuss what they care about, how they can improve the teaching experience, how to reduce the number of teachers who leave the profession and other issues related to public school education.

“In an effort to motivate our own RV students to consider teaching as a career, I have been collaborating with fellow teacher Mark Heiser on a new club, Future Educators of America. This is a local chapter of the state and national organizations,” she added. “This club is a springboard to a class we will offer in 2024-25, a pre-service class that will include educational theories, history of education, educational philosophy and even student teaching options.”

One of their goals is to encourage RV students of color to become teachers and return to RV as faculty.

“RV has a diverse student population, and we have learned that students respond to teachers who represent their community,” Sherman explained. “We hope to encourage graduates of color to become teachers at RVRHS in the future.”

What’s next for Sherman?

“In considering how teachers spend their time on a daily basis, I have also been thinking about our students,” she said. “I am working on an article for NJEA Review, the state teachers’ magazine, making a case for unstructured student time; it’s been a reflective experience I hope to nurture.”

Sherman has weaved in new efforts with those that earned her the EOY title initially. She continues teaching several sections of English at RVRHS and serves as the advisor to three clubs: The Holly Spirit, the RVRHS student newspaper; the Black Student Union (BSU); and the new group, Future Educators of America. She is fully invested in all three organizations.

In the fall of 2022, Sherman and her Holly Spirit students were especially proud to win several awards from the Garden State Scholastic Press Association, including Honorable Mention for Online Excellence.

“The paper is only in its third year, so this was particularly gratifying,” she added. “Moving forward, we aim to write about more topics related to diversity and to take more risks as journalists.”

The BSU, now in its third year, seeks to promote and advocate for students of color at RV and to emphasize the importance of service to the community.

So far during this school year, the BSU members held a holiday movie night in December, participated in the Feed-a-Family initiative in November, and had a table at Mt. Holly Multicultural Fair on January 14, where they sold t-shirts and educated the public about their goals and projects.

“We want the community to know who we are and what we are doing, in RVRHS and beyond,” she said. “We are encouraging activism in general, holding open and honest conversations about attracting more teachers of color and about our curriculum. What are we reading, and can we make it more positive and diverse?”

This year the BSU is expanding activities surrounding Black History Month and also raising funds for the first-ever college scholarship to be awarded to a RVRHS student of color in the spring.

“Sarah has helped our district set and achieve important goals for fostering a greater appreciation of diversity and improving our status of educational equity,” said RVRHS Superintendent Christopher Heilig, Ed.D. “We are proud to share her with the county and state to work toward similar goals, including building a teacher pipeline of diverse candidates ready to follow in her footsteps.”

Sherman resides in Collingswood with her husband, Jake Schwing, and their two sons, Jacob and Walt.