Congratulations to Jenny Hernandez, Stimson Middle School’s Teacher of the Year! Mrs. Hernandez joined the South Huntington family in 2005 when she started teaching at Maplewood. A year later, she was transferred to Stimson. She spent one year dividing her teaching time between Stimson and Walt Whitman High School but since 2018, Stimson has been her one and only school home as a Social Studies and English as New Language (ENL) teacher.
When Mrs. Hernandez first arrived on Long Island as a young adult from El Salvador, she spoke practically no English. A year after moving here, she started her higher education at Nassau Community College getting her Liberal Arts Associate Degree. She transferred to Queens College to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications with a minor in Journalism. Her plan from there was to pursue a career as a newspaper reporter, but when that didn’t work out she was offered a position as a teacher assistant in ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at a Language Center at Nassau Community College. That led to an opportunity in teaching her own Beginners ESL class. It was her own experience learning a new language that gave Mrs. Hernandez the confidence, the tools, and the desire to teach others to learn English so she decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in Education with a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) specialization.
Mrs. Hernandez’s colleagues have come to know her as a truly dedicated teacher who always puts her students before herself and works as a strong advocate for her students and their families. A favorite part of her job, according to Mrs. Hernandez, is making sure her students and their families know about all the great programs and opportunities our district and Stimson provide so they can take advantage and benefit from them. Stimson Principal Michael Duggan says Mrs. Hernandez helps lead and steer the ENL department and mentors new teachers.
In her nearly two decades of teaching, Mrs. Hernandez says her students have helped her become a better teacher. Some have taught her to be more patient and understanding while others have helped her learn different strategies for teaching because she’s seen how students learn differently. Still others have taught her to be a better mom because they face similar situations that her two sons, ages 10 and 12, are now facing as they grow up.
Mrs. Hernandez says being honored as Stimson’s Teacher of the Year and recognized by students, colleagues and administrators is like receiving “an unexpected Christmas present.” “At times, many of us educators feel that our hard work, taxing struggles, and small successes are not noticed. So being honored with such recognition has given me the opportunity to evaluate myself and give myself grace for any doubts I have had of whether or not I have been doing a good job.”