Theresa Szymanski is a phenomenal Social Studies educator that has made it her personal mission to teach her 6th grade students at Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School in Summit, NJ, about the world beyond their community.  She is a firm believer in personalizing the cultures that she teaches by recalling real world experiences and through the use of artifacts she collects from her travels.  Beyond her extensive education in Holocaust and Genocide studies, Ms. Szymanski’s visits to places like Dachau, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mali provide her students a unique perspective on the places and cultures she teaches.  She is passionate about issues of social justice and implements resources from organizations such as “Teaching Tolerance,” and “Facing History Ourselves” to establish a classroom of understanding, compassion, and noncompliance in inequity.  Ms. Szymanski was in the inaugural group of the State of New Jersey Amistad Commission’s Summer Educator Seminar and eagerly shared her resources with students and colleagues alike.  She is an advocate for all and empowers students and peers to “not allow their silence to affirm” injustice.  Whether it is with her P.E.E.R. program or the P.E.P. Foundation that she is working with, diverse students of various economic levels, gender, ethnicity, and cognitive readiness levels find her to be the person that inspires them to treat others “better” than they would expect.  Ms. Szymanski excels in presenting professional development to staff and students alike within her school district.  She epitomizes everything that one would want to emulate in a master teacher. 

 “I hope that through my example my students will want to explore the world and cultures around us.  I want them to go beyond textbook explanations and experience these cultures first-hand as I have.  Each time they mention they would like to become a lawyer for international children's rights, or work for the U.N., it makes me smile.”

Ms. Szymanski has earned a BA from Rutgers College in History and Art History, an
MAT from NYU in Social Studies Education, a Teacher of Students with Disabilities Certification from College of St. Elizabeth and is pursuing a Doctorate of Letters at Drew University.

Theresa Szymanski currently resides in Green Brook, NJ.