By SARAH COHON
From enlisting in the NYPD to teaching in a classroom, newly hired Spanish and French teacher Ms. Abigail Maher clearly has brains and brawn.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in criminology from SUNY New Paltz, Ms. Maher enlisted in the NYPD. However, an injury ruled out police work, so Ms. Maher pursued her passion for teaching.
Ms. Maher is certified to teach K-12 French, Spanish and English as a New Language. She has an impressive set of 4 degrees: a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a concentration in criminology, a bachelor’s degree in French with a minor in Spanish, a bachelor’s degree in linguistics and a master’s degree in teaching for the French language.
Before teaching, Ms. Maher worked for a nonprofit organization that did social work with students aged 10-21 in the Northport-East Northport School District. Ms. Maher also served as the Graduate Student Advisor at the Student Accessibility Support Center at Stony Brook University. Serving in these roles helped Ms. Maher to discover her passion be inside a classroom.
Ms. Maher is ecstatic to be a part of the Jericho community. She said, “After always knowing of Jericho’s great reputation and status, and then hearing a position was open in my area of expertise, I knew I had to jump at the opportunity!”
World Languages Curriculum Associate Dr. Lionel Chan feels a great teacher should be encouraging and work to help students realize that learning a language is a process that takes many steps. “Abigail Maher stood out to me because of her great people skills and love for children, with a love for sharing her expertise,” he said.
Ms. Maher feels that the secret to being a good teacher is compassion because you never know what is going on in a student’s personal life.
Ms. Maher finds teaching very gratifying. “I like helping people. It’s rewarding seeing something click in a student’s head,” she said.
Ms. Maher’s students appreciate her teaching methods. Sophomore Anjali A. said, “Ms. Maher is an understanding hands-on teacher who is always ready to help students comprehend and excel. She speaks French in class almost 100% of the time, which I’ve never experienced before.”
Ms. Maher appreciates her students’ work ethic. “Jericho students are different from other districts. They’re more motivated, interested in their own grades and personal well-being, and students are their own advocates,” she said.
Ms. Maher is proud to be a part of the Jericho community and is excited for what the future holds.