Many students at Pascack Valley High School know Will Lynch as a math teacher and varsity baseball coach, but not many know the untraditional path he took to get there.
As a high school student, Lynch had no plans of going into education when he was older. In fact, at first, he didn’t go to college at all. After high school, Lynch spent 12 years working as a scheduler at what was, at the time, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. At this company, he planned when to start and finish jobs that needed to be completed—this is where his road to Pascack Valley began.
At the pharmaceutical company, Lynch was offered full tuition to college as long as he kept his grades up. He started out as a business major but realized that he was better suited for mathematics.
“I started taking more and more math classes, and I just stuck with math, and it rolled right into … my job,” Lynch said. “So it made sense.”
He then started coaching baseball at Fair Lawn High School, which he described as “a natural progression” to teaching. He began substitute teaching here and there and then decided that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life at the company he currently worked for.
“[I didn’t want to] spend the rest of my life in the chemical factory,” Lynch said.
He started applying for jobs around the area including at Northern Valley Old Tappan High School: for a maternity leave position. Unfortunately, the job went to a teacher who had recently retired.
What happened next led him to Pascack Valley.
Lynch had never actually applied for a job at Pascack Valley but received a call from Dr. Barbara Sapienza, the late principal of PV. The principal of NVOT had told her that Lynch was a good prospect who was ready to teach.
“Doctor Sapienza called me at home…and left a message and said that she wanted me to come in for an interview for a job,” Lynch said.
Lynch came into PV for the job interview, and by the end he felt pretty confident he would be hired for the teaching position.
He was hired at Pascack Valley for the 1996-97 school year and started head coaching varsity baseball in 2008.
After 27 years of teaching at Pascack Valley, Lynch has accumulated a plethora of good memories in the school. His favorite part of teaching is “[being in] the classroom” because he enjoys the atmosphere and sharing his passion.
During class, he likes to have a bit of conversation in order for a more meaningful connection with his students, taking the typical teacher-student interaction and furthering it by getting to know them a little better.
“Being in [the classroom]…joking with them, having a good time [is important],” Lynch said. “…I don’t think it should be 45 minutes of math.”
Lynch also makes sure to show his support for his students outside the classroom by attending numerous PV sporting events throughout the year.
You will often see Lynch at a basketball, football, or soccer game, cheering on his past and present students.
“I enjoy watching,” Lynch said. “I enjoy going to games. I always have… I think the kids know that you’re there and they see you there… it’s like, oh, he’s here.”
When commenting on the sense of community at Pascack Valley, Lynch summed up his view by referencing a common PV saying: “runs green and white, don’t it?”
