New South High School teacher receives praise

South High School teacher Michael O’Brien, center, was named 2016 New Social Studies Teacher of the Year by the Long Island Council for the Social Studies. He is pictured with South High’s social studies chair, Michael Serif, and LICSS President Brian Dowd.

Courtesy VSCHSD

The Long Island Council for the Social Studies, the premier professional organization of Social Studies Teachers in Nassau and Suffolk, selected South High School teacher Michael O’Brien as its 2016 New Social Studies Teacher of the Year.

O’Brien joined South High last year after having been selected from a pool of more than 500 candidates. He currently teaches seventh-, eighth- and 11th-grade U.S. history. Besides his classroom responsibilities, he is an active member of the school community, serving as junior class advisor, JV girls’ basketball coach and middle school girls’ softball coach. He previously taught at St. Edmund’s Preparatory Academy in Brooklyn.

In his nomination of O’Brien, South High’s social studies chair, Michael Serif, said, “Since coming to Valley Stream South, Mr. O’Brien has proven himself again and again to be a hard-working and collaborative colleague. He is quick to share his resources and very open to learning from his colleagues. His lessons are uniformly interesting and exciting for students and he has developed a large following of students who populate his extra help sessions.”

As a result of his selection for this award, the LICSS will submit Mr. O’Brien’s name as a candidate for the state-level award, New Social Studies Teacher of 2016.