Nancy Larkin is Cornwall’s ‘Teacher of the Year’
Like most faculty members, Nancy Larkin went home on a Friday in March, expecting to return to the high school in a few weeks. She didn’t expect the lockdown to last for the balance of the semester. But that wasn’t her only surprise. While she was working from home, she learned that she was Cornwall’s Teacher of the Year.
“I was shocked,” Mrs. Larkin admitted. Her colleagues in the Social Studies Department had nominated her. In other years, she would have been honored at a party, and a poster announcing her award would have greeted people entering the high school. But, of course, this year was not like any other.
Presenting lessons from home was a whole new world for someone who’d been teaching for 42 years (almost all of them in Cornwall).
“I got a chance to learn new skills,” she said. “And I got to know a few students better than I would have in school.”
Being home, also gave her time to think. She surprised herself by deciding to retire. And she had time to consider the reasons for her award. Her fellow teachers hadn’t known that she was going to retire when they nominated her.
They could have been influenced by her coaching successes. She was one of two adults attached to an Odyssey of the Mind team that won an award at the World Finals in 2005. The team, which included her son Brendan, logged a lot of miles – qualifying for competitions in Iowa and Colorado.
Mrs. Larkin left Odyssey to watch her middle son, Harrison, play varsity soccer and basketball. But a trip to Turkey, with fellow teacher Nancy McGuire, led to a new involvement. Mrs. Larkin became the head of the Foreign Affairs Club, which prepared for a yearly competition at the FDR Library in Hyde Park.
A year ago, the team finished first and qualified for the national meet in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Larkin took five students to the nation’s capital.
“We’re going to do the best we can,” she told them, “but we’re also going to enjoy the experience.”
During her 37 years in Cornwall, the award winner took several courses. Her most ambitious project was earning the National Board Certification. It’s a multi-year process, where participants’ only incentive is to improve their skills. The certification would have impressed the people who nominated Mrs. Larkin.
But the award winner believes her approach led to her nomination.
“Parents saw me as the type of person they would want their children to spend time with. I treated my students like I would want my children to be treated. The students knew that I really cared about them.”
During retirement, Mrs. Larkin plans to travel with her husband Bill, an attorney and the son of the late state senator. She would like to do volunteer work with young people.
