By Mike Russo
But the 27-year-old Hayon must be doing something right: He is one of only 10 Long Island educators to win the 2009 Distinguished Teacher Award, issued by the Harvard Club of Long Island.
Hayon, who began his career at the high school in 2004, teaches several physics and chemistry classes. He recently finished a master’s degree in physics education at Buffalo State University, having first graduated from Hofstra with a major in physics and a double minor in math and secondary education. He has a reputation among students for being one of the cool teachers, one who can relate to them as both a teacher and a friend.
Hayon says that making the subject matter interesting for his students while also keeping it educational is the difficult part of his job. Students often don’t realize that a teacher hears everything going on in the classroom, he explained, and that helps him teach in a way that they will pay attention to. “It’s getting to know the students’ personality, what they love,” Hayon said. “‘Family Guy,’ sports — I realized I could actually bring them into the physics classroom to help them learn.”
Baldwin High alumnus Rahul Prabhakar, who was in the first class Hayon taught and is set to graduate from Harvard in June, recommended his former instructor for the Distinguished Teacher Award. Prabhakar recalls being impressed by the maturity and dedication Hayon brought to every class, especially at such a young age.
Judith B. Esterquest, chairwoman of the Distinguished Teacher Awards for the Harvard Club of Long Island, read a testimonial written by Prabhakar at the awards ceremony last Saturday at the Melville Marriott Hotel. “[Hayon] often created humorous lessons that I still remember five years after having him as a teacher — and I was a non-science major,” Prabhakar wrote. “I often return to the high school, and I always make an effort to see him. I can now see the profound impact he has had on his current students every year. Their enthusiastic questioning and participation is an influence and a testament to his teaching ability.”
Hayon’s reputation doesn’t seem to have changed one bit. He is a nine-time nominee for the Honor Society Certificate of Appreciation, and has been honored at the school district's annual In Recognition of Excellence Dinner, at which college-bound students pay tribute to elementary, middle school and high school teachers who have had a positive impact on their lives. And as coach of the Baldwin junior varsity baseball team, Hayon is extremely popular among Baldwin’s athletes.
He attributes much of his success to the high school’s science chairwoman, Barbara Reiss, who, Hayon said, he considers one of his mentors. He recalled being nervous when he began teaching, because Reiss got along so well with the students, and he didn’t think he could follow her. He felt the same insecurity at first, he said, with some of his students, especially the soft-spoken ones, wondering whether he was connecting with them. But some of those students returned unexpectedly years later to tell him how much his teaching had helped them.
For Hayon, nothing could be more rewarding. “The best part about teaching is hearing kids’ testimonials when they’re in college, especially students who really aren’t that vocal,” he said. “You wonder, Am I really making a difference in this kid’s life? And then they come back, and they say they’re taking a class that’s ‘so easy because of your class.’ To me, that’s like, wow! I actually mattered. I actually made a difference in this student’s life, and there’s nothing that tops that.”
Comments about this story? MRusso@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
