Central teachers recognized

There are many people within each school community who help mold young students into successful adults for college and beyond. At Central High School, three teachers have been recognized for their work in recent years after one or more recent graduates and current Harvard University students, nominated them for a prestigious honor.

The Harvard Club of Long Island has recognized Central’s Tara Zamorano, Mario Bakalov and Robert De La Cruz in its “Distinguished Teacher 2014” category. Each of the educators was nominated by a current Harvard undergrad, although it is not known who made the submission.

“It feels great to be singled out in a prestigious club,” said Bakalov, an art teacher and business club advisor. “I don’t feel like I’m the only person who deserves an honor like that, but I’m absolutely flattered.”

Zamorano, an orchestra and Advanced Placement music theory teacher, said three Central teachers being recognized is a testament to the entire staff. “It’s not just us three,” she said. “We got lucky that we were singled out, but it’s really the whole school.”

Physics and astronomy teacher Robert De La Cruz said he wished the recognition went to the entire school rather than singling him and two of his colleagues out. According to him, Central has a structure in place that allows students to be successful, so it isn’t just a few teachers who deserve the credit.

“It’s not like any other job where you’re given a project and you see the end result,” De La Cruz said. “To know that we had a positive impact on an exceptional kid is definitely humbling.”

Letters were sent to teachers in February and each said they were pleasantly surprised.

The club seeks to honor “outstanding Long Island teachers” each year and asked current Harvard students to nominate seventh through 12th-grade educators who “made the greatest difference to their lives.”

An excerpt of the student essays on each of the teachers was included in the letters. “Dedication,” “passionate” and “supportive” were words commonly used to describe Central’s honorees.

Zamorano, who has taught at Central for eight years, was said to “help students not only play music well, but encourages them to love playing it.”