In a packed program that highlighted excellence across the state, NJEA honored the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Frederick L. Hipp grant recipients, the 2020-21 State Teacher of the Year, Angel Santiago, the 2020-21 County Teachers of the Year, and the 2021-22 State Teacher of the Year, Theresa Maughan, and the 2021-22 County Teachers of the Year. The Celebration of Excellence is an annual event held during the NJEA Convention that highlights exceptional NJEA members and honors a noteworthy graduate of New Jersey’s public schools.
To kick off the celebration, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, in one of his first appearances since winning reelection as governor, addressed the audience and thanked NJEA members for their support. Murphy, who has repeatedly mentioned his family’s connection and commitment to public education, enjoyed some banter with the crowd. He reaffirmed his commitment to the public education issues that matter most to educators and vowed to continue to support policies and practices that put the interests of students and educators first.
Following Gov. Murphy’s speech, NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson announced the names of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Frederick L. Hipp grant recipients. Because of the pandemic, this was the first time the Hipp grant teams could be present in person to receive their commemorative plaques and be honored by NJEA. Twenty-four grant teams were honored and those present took photos with NJEA President Sean M. Spiller, Vice President Steve Beatty, Executive Director Steve Swetsky, and Deputy Executive Director Kevin Kelleher.
The first grant announced was for the LEAP Academy Charter School in Camden whose project, A Virtual Community Garden, was designated as the first recipient of the Visions Grant for Social Justice. Timothy Strong, manager of public relations and community engagement for Visions, spoke about Visions Federal Credit Union’s $1 million donation to NJEA to support social justice programs in the community. The Virtual Community Garden will encourage an interest in gardening among families in the school district. Interested families will receive a “Garden in a Box” to help them kickstart at-home gardening. The project also will work to build stronger connections among the participating families and with the school district.
2021-22 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year Theresa Maughan next addressed the audience and spoke about her journey as an educator. A history teacher at East Orange’s STEM Academy, she has been teaching for four decades. She shared the stories of the teachers who inspired her and advocated for her family during a challenging time in their lives. Maughan also extolled the importance of continued professional development.
“My teaching career is similar to a long-distance race,” Maughan said. “And my growth mindset is the key to my longevity in this profession. I am still a work in progress and each year that I have taught, I’ve approached it as if it was my first. I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself, improve things for my students, and improve our community. I’m on a continuous journey of professional development and I believe we can stay in the profession for the long haul through our professional growth.”
Maughan encouraged people from diverse backgrounds to pursue teaching as a career and called on schools to reflect diversity through their curriculum.
“Our students deserve a teacher corps that is as diverse as they are, and we need to promote culturally inclusive classrooms that exhibit relevancy by providing an effective and safe learning culture that connects with our students’ prior knowledge and backgrounds,” Maughan said.
Maughan plans to work with high school and college students during her time as Teacher of the Year. Maughan’s powers of persuasion must be considerable; her daughter is a special education teacher in Livingston.
Angel Santiago, the 2020-21 NJ State Teacher of the Year spoke next. Fresh off a visit to the White House with nearly 100 other state teachers of the year from the 2020 and 2021 cohorts, Santiago shared his amazement that a child from Vineland would end up meeting the president of the United States at the White House. Santiago, an elementary school teacher at Loring Flemming Elementary School in Blackwood, Camden County, reflected on his year as the teacher of the year which also saw him and his wife welcoming their second child.
“A few weeks ago, I sat on the South Lawn of the White House and I was in awe of the spectacle that I had just experience: meeting the First Lady and the President of the United States,” Santiago said. “You have to understand, in my mind, a Puerto Rican kid from South Jersey rarely gets these types of opportunities. Less than five minutes after thinking this, I took a picture with the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, a fourth-generation Puerto Rican teacher from Connecticut. It was a dream; un sueño, as my abuela reminds me.”
National Education Support Professional of the Year and NJEA ESP of the Year Kimberly Scott-Hayden, an inventory control clerk who also assists the supervisor of Security Services at East Orange Public Schools, was recognized at the celebration. The ESP of the Year typically speaks and is honored at the NJEA ESP Conference held in February.
2020-21 ESP of the Year Stacy Yanko, a high school guidance secretary at Hopatcong High School, also was recognized.
The final speaker of the celebration was Daryl L. Stewart, an award-winning actor, director, producer, and educator, and a 2005 graduate of Union High School in Union County. Stewart shared how he thrived in an educational environment that valued art and music as much as math and the social sciences.
Stewart reflected on the impact of his teachers and educational support professionals.
“I can say, without reservation, that I would not be who I am without my public school education,” Stewart said. “I grew up in a place, at a time where extracurricular activities like theater and dance and chorus and student council were just as revered as athletics and standardized testing. This carved out a space for artsy kids like me to excel. And my life in the arts has taken me all around the world.”
To learn about NJEA’s Frederick L. Hipp Grant program, read more details about the winning grants, and to apply for a grant of your own, go to njea.org/hipp-foundation.