Caryn Greenberg
SPRINGFIELD — Twenty-three years ago, fresh-out-of-college teacher Caryn Greenberg thought she knew what she was getting herself into. Little did she envision how deeply her teaching career would be marked with both tragedy and reasons to celebrate. She certainly did not imagine herself winning an Excellence in Teaching Award, which she and three other recipients will receive Monday.
The Tecumseh High School grad was the first in her family to attend college. After graduating from Wittenberg, she taught in Asheville, N.C., where she met a little girl who changed her life: Sara Jane Holt.
Greenberg’s maiden name is Holt, and when 10-year-old Sara Jane Holt first met Greenberg, she asked, “Are we related?” The two formed a bond immediately, making the events of that first Thanksgiving break even harder for Greenberg: Sara Jane Holt had been in a car accident.
Sara Jane died about a week later. No classroom had prepared Greenberg for the calls she had to make to her 22 other students or for the funeral she attended with them.
Sara Jane’s impact on Greenberg didn’t end at the funeral; the teacher said she still finds herself looking for “that passion, that connection, in each child.” Dealing with life and death circumstances allowed Greenberg to focus on her students as “somebody’s little darling child first and test scores around last.”
This philosophy allows Greenberg to maintain a flexible attitude towards teaching. The fourth-grade teacher at Northwestern Elementary School said that changing the grade she teaches every few years “keeps my skills honed.”
The mother of two attributes her success to her co-workers, including her husband, Mark. The two chose to work at Northwestern despite higher paying offers because they wanted their children to experience the community setting, Greenberg said.
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