Multiple teachers of the Hillsborough School District were recently honored at a township committee meeting on May 14.
Hillsborough Township Mayor Frank DelCore and the committee honored Mary Ellen Davies, Gina Kay, Nancy Patrick and Jennifer Tuller for being recognized as “2019 Teacher of The Year” in their respective schools.
Davies, a computer resource teacher at Hillsborough Middle School, has been a member of the Hillsborough School District faculty since 2006. She created a Certified Student Tech Assistant program to add a student dimension to her tech coaching effort and is aimed to ensure everyone has access to “time of need” support. Davies also taught German for nine years before becoming a computer support teacher/ technology coach.
Kay, a health education teacher at Hillsborough Middle School, has been a member of the Hillsborough School District faculty since 1997. She initiated an after-school CPR/AED training program and wrote a grant to receive new mannequins with devices that provide real time feedback regarding correct compression depth and rate.
Kay has certified approximately 300 students in Adult and Child CPR/AED. Kay has also won a contest to bring artist Kelly Sullivan into the school as part of an international art and empowerment project known as “The Mighty Fingers Facing Change.”
Patrick, a teacher at Auten Road Intermediate School, has been a member of the Hillsborough School District faculty since 2000. She has been the advisor of National History Day for the past five years, sending a student to the national competition annually.
Patrick is also the advisor of the National Geographic Bee, which sends candidates to the state competition. She has assisted in implementing a recycling program as an advisor of the Auten Road Intermediate School Goes Green club as well.
Tuller, a computer literacy teacher at Hillsborough Auten Road Intermediate School, has been a member of the Hillsborough School District faculty since 2000. She has revamped the computer literacy curriculum to include digital citizenship, which includes digital safety, security and ethics as well as computer science/coding.
Tuller is an active member of the School Leadership Team, School Climate and Safety Team and Wellness Committee. She also teaches technology classes to staff members and runs six different coding clubs at Auten Road Intermediate School.
At the end of the honorary ceremonies, Mayor DelCore said that it was a real pleasure to honor the staff members of the school district, which compliments the township.
“It’s really amazing because we never seem to run out of proclamations given in our town,” Mayor DelCore announced. “Between our municipal employees, the incredible teachers here tonight, boy scouts and girl scouts, and people doing work for charity – it’s amazing how frequently we get to honor people. It’s because of the community that we do have here.”