Beth Tellefsen is convincing. “After 27 years, I still love my job,” she says. And she must be good at it, because she’s Cornwall’s Teacher of the Year for 2015-16.
But it’s not the career she envisioned when studying French, Spanish and Journalism in college. Her only teaching experience came from a pilot program, where she helped five and six-year-olds learn a foreign language.
It was great, but she gave it up for a chance to study overseas. When she returned and got her degree, she went to work for “Women’s Wear Daily.”
“I didn’t like it at all,” Mrs. Tellefsen admitted during a recent interview. “It felt like everyone was out for themselves.” After a year in the position, she was ready for a career change.
So she was receptive when a friend told her about an opening for a second-grade teacher in the Brownsville area in Brooklyn. “It was like education boot camp,” Mrs. Tellefsen recalled. She had 25 students and her only supplies were a box of chalk, an eraser, and a ream of paper.
She taught during the day and studied for her master’s degree in education at night. “That first year,” she said, “I probably spent more money than I made…. The kids would show up for school in flip flops in January. It was heart-breaking.”
The job became a family project. When her father-in-law would visit her at home, he’d bring gifts for her students — boxes of crayons, scissiors, and anything else the kids might need.
Mrs. Tellefsen taught in Brooklyn and the Bronx, and then started to sub in Cornwall-on-Hudson while her children were little. She hesitated when a full-time position was available until a friend advised her that openings were rare.
Since then, she has taught in all three elementary schools.This year the Cornwall Central Teachers Association decided to honor her after the selection committee received a letter of recommendation.
As a result, a page will be dedicated to her in the 2016 high school yearbook, and the Hudson Valley Renegades will recognize her on Education Night in June. “It’s wonderful,” Mrs. Tellefsen acknowledged. “It makes you feel validated.”
She and her husband Brad (a New York City firefighter) have two children. Olivia is in college and Sam, a recent college graduate, is in the Air Force.
