4 Teachers To Be Honored At Princeton University Commencement

PRINCETON, NJ — Four outstanding New Jersey secondary school teachers will be honored by Princeton University at its Commencement on June 6, the university said on Monday. Ocean City Intermediate School teacher Cory Terry, Peter Drozd of Union City High School, Emily Rock of Oakcrest High School and Colleen Tambuscio of New Milford High School will be recognized as part of the teacher-recognition program, which began in 1959.

The teachers were selected for the award based on nominations from public and private schools around the state. The teachers will each receive $5,000, as well as $3,000 for their school libraries.

The program is administered by Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation program. Christopher Campisano is the director.

“All the finalists were distinguished in their own unique way,” Campisano said. “The four we honor with this award are truly extraordinary. A teacher’s presence and work have a special impact on the school community that transcends the classroom. Each teacher fills a void believing in the power of their students to make a better world.”

Terry majored in psychology at Princeton University, and received a certificate in teacher preparation, graduating in 2004. She has always been passionate about the natural world and connecting with it, and she is now able to share her passion with students in her middle school science class.

Students and staff know Drozd, teacher of robotics and engineering at Union City High School Academy for Enrichment and Advancement (AEA), as the “robot man.” AEA is a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) school that offers courses in computer coding, engineering, robotics and architecture. Drozd has been diligently building the “E” in the STEM academy since it opened eight years ago.

Rock teaches English to both freshmen and seniors at Oakcrest High School, but she has a special affinity for her first-year students. To help eighth-graders make the leap from middle school to high school, she founded a district-wide program that helps with the transition. In two years, the program has yielded improvements in students’ grades, attendance, behavior and attitude.

After speaking to Deaf members of her community, Tambuscio “discovered that Deaf education could be isolating for deaf people in public schools or isolate them from the world if they weren’t properly integrated with their hearing peers,” she wrote in a personal statement.

The staff of the Program in Teacher Preparation, in reviewing the applications, considers recommendations from colleagues and students as well as evidence of the teachers’ accomplishments in the school and the community. From the initial pool of applicants, 10 finalists are selected and visited at their schools by Rosanne Zeppieri, a member of the program staff.

The award winners are then selected by a committee that includes, in addition to Campisano, University faculty members Joshua Katz and Stanley Katz; Steve Cochrane, superintendent of the Princeton Public Schools; and Laura Morana, New Jersey state Department of Education acting chief academic officer.

For more information on all four teachers, visit princeton.edu.

Patch file photo