Bergen Teacher Named 'Outstanding' Educator By Princeton U.

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Any student who asks Kevin Killian when they will ever use math after high school, and he will give you a laundry list of ideas.

Killian is a mathematics teacher at Pascack Hills High School. He has a reputation among his students and peers of truly loving the subject he teaches.

"His love of math is infectious," said colleague Charleen Schwartzman. "Through Kevin’s lens, kids are able to see math’s beauty and power and realize that math is all around us."

Killian is one of four recipients of the Princeton Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching. The "outstanding" teachers will be honored during Princeton University's 2019 commencement ceremony June 4, the school said.

Winners were selected for the award based on nominations from public and private schools around the state. They will each receive $5,000. Their schools' libraries will each receive $3,000.

"Whether it be through shopping, engineering, physics, sports or business examples, Mr. Killian makes sure every student is learning in a way he understands, relates to and can apply," said a student. "The students who typically do not enjoy math are very engaged in his classes."

Killian teaches ninth grade algebra, pre-calculus, and statistics. He also coaches the district's national-award-winning robotics team, The Pascack Pi-oneers. He was named the district's Teacher of the Year in 2017.

"Mr. Killian has helped to mentor coaches and students from robotics programs around the state, thus modeling what it means to give of one's time and talents for the benefit of others," said Mark Russo, the district's supervisor of mathematics and computer science. "Mr. Killian is an absolute lynchpin in the Pascack Hills community, and he works tirelessly and consistently to enrich the lives of students, colleagues and members of the larger community."

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com