Bergen Music Teacher Is N.J. Teacher Of The Year

Argine Safari, an award-winning music teacher at Pascack Valley High School, has been named the 2016-17 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.

Safari has established new vocal groups and inter-disciplinary courses in her 11 years at the school.

Choirs under her direction have earned several awards and traveled to Ireland, where their songs were played on national radio, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

She has also raised money for several charities by organizing benefit concerts and events.

Safari co-founded Stage Scene and Song Performing Arts, a non-profit youth theater company that has received several grants, three years ago.

Safari is an collaborative pianist and vocalist, having performed at Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden.

In 2010, Safari received the Distinguished Secondary School Scholar Award from Princeton University.

Safari earned several degrees, including in business and finance from Brooklyn College, piano performance and music theory from Yerevan State Musical College in Armenia, musicology and composition from Moscow State Conservatory in Russia, and in Education Supervision from Rutgers University.

Before coming to Pascack Valley, Safari conducted the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen could not be reached for comment.

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Argine Safari — Pascack Valley Regional High School District