Congratulations to Walt Whitman High School English teacher Kimberly Latko who has been honored with The Harvard Club of Long Island’s Distinguished Teacher Award for 2024. She is one of just ten teachers from all of Long Island this year to receive this award. Mrs. Latko was further honored as the only teacher chosen to receive the Harvard Experience Fellowship which includes a customized visit to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to tour the campus, experience classes, seminars, interviews with faculty, and cultural events.
The Distinguished Teacher Award honorees are nominated by current Harvard undergraduates and then selected by Harvard Club of Long Island (HCLI) board members. Mrs. Latko was nominated by her former student, Walt Whitman’s Class of 2023 Salutatorian, Zahra Choudry, who entered the South Huntington School District in 6th grade when she moved here from Pakistan with her family.
“She's a remarkable young woman,” exclaimed Mrs. Latko. “And to have taken the time to think about me and have in her head things that have become valuable that she took with her from Whitman to Harvard, that alone makes me really, really proud and excited.”
“Ms. Kimberly Eagen Latko has been the most amazing educator in all my years of schooling,” wrote Zahra in her nomination letter. “My only regret about attending Harvard is that I could not take Ms. Latko with me.”
High praise for a teacher that Zahra had for only one year but credits as the person who would allow her to pursue all her aspirations at her dream school. Zahra admitted to being very STEM-focused in high school and desperately tried to avoid any English class that included creative writing. Begrudgingly, she found herself signing up for AP Language in her junior year. But in that class, Zahra said she learned from Mrs. Latko how to “unjumble the thoughts in her head” and conquer her fear of creative expression. The two stayed in touch during senior year, and Zahra looked to her former teacher to advise her through the challenging college application process.
“The way Ms. Latko taught me to understand rhetoric and the use of words changed my life. I confided in Ms. Latko deeply in the admission process, letting her into the nooks and crannies of my life that I wanted to demonstrate in my essay, deeply personal topics I have yet to tell even my closest friends. Ms. Latko handled this with care, eager to help me improve constantly and reminded me to believe in myself and my abilities every step of the way,” wrote Zahra.
The purpose of the award, according to the Harvard Club of Long Island, is to give educators overdue recognition and honor teachers who transform students' lives. Mrs. Latko shared that it felt very validating to know that there are students of hers out there who still hear her voice in the background as they sit down to write. “It warms my heart to know that even though the high school experience they have with me can be challenging, the outcome is something they feel was very worthwhile. I don't always get to see that because they leave and I trust that somewhere out there, they think to themselves, ‘Wow, I really do know how to put a sentence together,’” said Mrs. Latko.
Mrs. Latko has lots of former students who may be carrying her lessons with them. She has been teaching at Whitman for 31 years, and also happens to be a Whitman alum! She was honored along with the other 2024 winners at the Harvard Club of Long Island’s annual University Relations Luncheon on Saturday, March 9th.