It’s that time of the year when we gather around the dinner table to enjoy the most important meal of the year. In addition to the excitement of food centering the holiday, we also take time to reflect on what we are most grateful for. We asked two Pascack Valley High School staff and faculty members from each department what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Physical Education
Len Cusumano- “Family, health and the Pascack Valley community.”
Jonathan Moran- “I’m thankful for my family and my two young sons.”
Math
Elizabeth Egan- “I’m grateful to live in a community that has healthcare workers and emergency responders who show up with strength to help people who are at their most vulnerable.”
Will Lynch – “I’m just thankful that my family’s healthy. That’s good enough for me.”
Science
Christopher Nilsen – “I am thankful for all of the staff and students here at Pascack Valley. I think I work with wonderful teachers who love to collaborate and help one another, and I love working with the students here. There are a lot of other places that wouldn’t be as wonderful as Pascack Valley, so I’m thankful for that.”
Cindy Reese – “I am thankful for the unpredictable moments of joy and genuine humor my students bring to the routine of the school day. Their ability to laugh and maintain a positive spirit is a constant reminder [of] why I enjoy working with them and at PV.”
English
Bonnie Slockett – “This year, I’m particularly happy and grateful that we have a brand new baby in our family named George; So even though it sounds cliché, I’m very grateful for my family and our health and the abundance that we have in our life.”
Amy Maniscalco- “[I’m] thankful for my colleagues, students, and a long weekend off.”
Foreign Language
Jimena Ladino- “I am thankful because of the opportunities that I have to give back… being grateful is part of my everyday motto… to have an opportunity to give back to my students and give back all that I have learned through my years of experience.”
Agostina Trass – “My daughter Aria.”
History
Ryan Walter- “Health…I’m very thankful for the health of my own family, my kids, myself, I’m glad most of us are healthy right now, and I know how frail that is, and I know how fragile that can be, and how that could be taken away from me, in a moment.”
Erica Schwartz- “I am thankful for my students and my family.”
Electives
Annette Molino – “I am thankful I have awesome students and that this is an awesome school to be in.”
Craig Yaremko- I’m thankful for students who want to learn to make music, something that I’m very passionate about. Smiling faces that are eager to make joyful sounds.”
Special Education and Support Staff
Joseph Belger- “There’s a bunch of things I’m thankful for this year. My daughter is one year old. She’s healthy. I love spending time with my family. I’m also extremely thankful for my family here at Pascack Valley. I truly believe we live in one of the greatest communities with superb people. I enjoy coming to see every single day here.”
Michael Worthington – “I’m very grateful for my family. Obviously, my friends, my health. Those are pretty obvious things to me, but from my experience, I lost my father to leukemia about four years ago, [and] I have a brother with special needs. And so obviously family [is] super important [in a] situation like that, and then on top of that, it makes you really grateful for like at least being here and having like two working arms and legs and a functioning brain…As much as it’s crazy like it could be very different.”
Guidance
Frank Andrisani- “From a work standpoint for PV, I’m just thankful for the colleagues I have, and ultimately the people that I work with, not only in the department, but really the faculty and staff…From a family standpoint, obviously my sister, my brother, my nieces [and] nephews. I think they provide a lot of support for me throughout the year. So I’m really thankful for them. And then just for the ability to be where I am, not only from a career standpoint, but even a financial standpoint, where I’m allowed to do things that I really enjoy in my life, which shows you hard work ultimately leads you to get the goals that you ultimately want to achieve.”
Jennifer Kuo- “So many things to be grateful for. Working at an amazing place with great kids and great coworkers, colleagues. I’m grateful for my kids being at an age where we can go do fun holiday stuff.
