Master Teachers in Three Village

As the result of a challenging application process, Three Village Central School District educators Pam O’Brien, Peter Schuchman and Gary Vorwald have been named New York State Master Teachers. These three teachers bring the district’s total number of Master Teachers to five, the second highest amount on Long Island.

The program encourages educators to mentor their peers and deepen their own scholastic and professional development. They will join a network of more than 500 outstanding educators who demonstrate a deep understanding of their content area, pedagogy and communities.

Ms. O’Brien has been teaching for 26 years, the last 14 of which have been at Ward Melville High School. During her time in the district she has taught a range of courses but most recently the majority of her schedule has been Advanced Placement statistics.

Mr. Schuchman has taught for 12 years at P.J. Gelinas Junior High School and has a total of 13 years of educational experience. At Gelinas he teaches Regents/honors level Earth Science and the Earth SMART courses.

Mr. Vorwald has taught in the district since 1998 and been an educator for 28 years. During his time in Three Village, he has taught nearly every science course offered at P.J. Gelinas, is the school’s current department chairperson and the lead coach of its award-winning Science Olympiad team.

For the prestigious honor, the teachers were required to demonstrate their success in the classroom and model teaching practices. They had to provide transcripts, recommendation letters, and complete a teaching demonstration, writing sample, personal essay and interview.

Photo provided by the Three Village Central School District: Three Village Central School District educators Peter Schuchman, Pam O’Brien and Gary Vorwald have been named New York State Master Teachers.