Vineland educator named county Teacher of the Year

VINELAND – Terry Kuhnreich, a Vineland High School educator, was named the 2016-17 Cumberland County Teacher of the Year.

Superintendent Mary Gruccio summoned Kuhnreich to the Plum Street administrative offices after school Friday to surprise her with the announcement.

By speakerphone, Caroline Knower of the Cumberland County Office of Education told Kuhnreich of the honor.

“What an appropriate way to end Teacher Appreciation Week,” Knower said.

“Oh thank you,” a stunned Kuhnreich said. “That’s a nice surprise.”

Knower commended the VHS teacher on her Search for Conscience class.

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The five-credit course focuses on the Holocaust and genocide as well as social issues related to current events. Class speakers have included a KKK member and Holocaust survivors.

The thought-provoking class discussions make it one of the most sought after electives at the high school.

“The students at Vineland are so lucky to have you,” Knower said. “I love the way you are bringing history to life for your students. I never had a teacher like that in high school.”

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Those who know Kuhnreich know the class transcends curriculum.

It’s personal.

Kuhnreich’s parents, Jacob and Marie Teichman, were both Holocaust survivors.

“They are the inspiration for what I do,” she said.

She thought of her father, who died in 2013, at age 108.

“If I did well, that already made him proud,” she said.

Add an education component to her achievement, she said, “it took it over the top for him.”

Growing up, her first love was law but her mother urged her to pursue teaching.

“Look how many lives you touched,” Gruccio said.

This weekend, three of Kuhnreich’s Search for Conscience students, Eryca Bennett, Nate West and Jeff Martine, will be featured speakers at the Yom HaShoah service scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Beth Israel Synagogue.

Martine was not surprised to learn his teacher was honored, calling her “our school mom, always there to listen and offer guidance when we need it.”

“Mrs. Kuhnreich is a compassionate and brilliant teacher; she uses her gift of teaching to educate all types of students and she really has a way of pulling us into her lessons,” Martine said.  “She teaches from the heart and there's nobody more qualified for the title of Teacher of the Year because to us, she's teacher of the century."

Deborah M. Marko: (856) 563-5256; dmarko@gannett.com