Holy Name pair have been educating for 40 years

Sister Irene Weiner and Eileen McEnaney have dedicated most of their adult lives to teaching children. Both teachers were recently recognized for their 40 years of service as Catholic school educators.

With 81 years of education experience between them — 41 for Weiner and 40 for McEnaney — they also have a combined 40 years at Holy Name of Mary School in Valley Stream. Weiner came to the school seven years ago, after previous teaching stints at St. Therese of Lisieux in Montauk, St. Martin of Tours in Amityville and St. Boniface in Elmont. McEnaney has spent most of her career, 33 years, in Valley Stream.

“You take it year-by-year and before you know it, you’ve been teaching 40 years,” Weiner said.

During her career, Weiner has taught kindergarten and first through third grade. Now, she is her third year teaching pre-K at Holy Name of Mary. There is no one grade level she has enjoyed teaching more than the others. “They’re all special in their own way,” she said.

Her students now, she said, are 4 years old. They are very innocent and just about everything is new to them.

McEnaney said that during her three plus decades at Holy Name school, she has touched every grade. Now a fifth-grade teacher, she has helped to start the pre-K and nursery school programs, and been the religion teacher for each level. And she’s taught the parents of some of her students as well. “By having been here so long,” McEnaney said, “I’m on the second generation of children.”

Over the years, it’s the student-teacher relationship that both Weiner and McEnaney said has been the constant during their four decades as educators. After all, they say, they are not only teaching children to read, write, add and subtract, but also to have a relationship with God.

Teaching religion is very unique, McEnaney explained, because it is based on belief as opposed to factual knowledge like the academic subjects. “What makes our job different is we’re nurturing the soul,” she said. “We prepare them to live beyond the classroom.”

For both teachers, religion comes first every day. Weiner said after she takes attendance, she leads her students in prayer. “I say, the first person we talk to is God,” she said.