Substitute teacher to Teacher of the Year
Sarajian attributes his success to the “great kids” he teaches
A young Ken Sarajian had no plan to become a teacher.
“I was probably on my way to becoming a lawyer,” PV history teacher Sarajian said. “But I had two great [college] advisors who said ‘Ken, you don’t want to be a lawyer.’ They suggested I go to graduate school.”
That life-changing conversation with his advisors led Sarajian to be named the 2017-2018 Pascack Valley Teacher of the Year.
Sarajian grew up in River Edge and went to River Dell high school. When he attended Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster Penn., he was a government major and took many history and politics courses.
He then went to graduate school and got his masters in public administration. Sarajian first worked at the American Association for Higher Education in Washington D.C., but then found himself back in New Jersey when a Vice Principal from River Edge told Sarajian that they were in need of a teacher. He became a substitute for a history teacher.
“I was a sub every day for a year for a guy who was sick,” Sarajian said. “I made $26 a day for the whole year and I did everything.”
After being a substitute for a few more years, Sarajian got a job as a history teacher at Pascack Valley in the early ‘80s. He was supposed to work for only 60 days, but it ended up being four years. During those four years, he was the head wrestling coach.
After four years, Sarajian decided to go back into the business world to help with his father’s business. He worked in the printing and graphic arts business for 21 years.
“There was a point in my life when I wanted to come back to teaching,” Sarajian said. “I had it work well that I was able to come back to PV which I loved.”
He came back to PV in 2005.
Thomas Gallione, a physical education teacher and the wrestling coach at PV, started working here the year Sarajian came back to teaching. They have known each other since Gallione was a small child because his father and Sarajian were opposing wrestling coaches during Sarajian’s original four years here. Sarajian mentored Gallione when it was his turn to coach. Sarajian was the assistant coach for wrestling at that time, and now he helps out.
“I started coaching wrestling as the head coach,” Gallione says. “Being a young head coach, he helped me.”
It has been 12 years since Sarajian returned to teaching and he teaches US history I and II. Some of his favorite things to teach are civil rights, the Progressive Era, and the Constitution. He is also passionate about the Armenian Genocide.
“My grandparents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide and so it became part of my life, fighting for justice for not only the Armenian Genocide but all genocides,” Sarajian said. “When I was in business, I used to have the time to go and talk to the congressmen about all genocides and about genocide education.”
Now he teaches his own students and other PV students about them.
Aside from education, Sarajian loves gameshows. He has been on “Jeopardy”, “Win, Lose, or Draw”, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”, and “Cash Cab.” He won two of them — “Win, Lose, or Draw” and “Cash Cab.” He also enjoys watching high school sports, especially wrestling, as well as spending time with his wife and kids.
Sarajian says he feels humbled to have been named Teacher of the Year.
“It was a surprise,” Sarajian said. “I’m uncomfortable at times about it, but I’ve learned to accept it. I understand that the reason I’m any good at what I do is because of the people around me.”
One of the most important people to him in the school is Deborah Ragone, who is a special education teacher. Sarajian and Ragone got paired together for some of his collaborative classes. He calls her his “work wife.” Sarajian believes that she is one of the keys to his success.
“The school could not have picked a better person [for teacher of the year],” said Tom Gattoni, who has known Sarajian since he [Sarajian] first started teaching. “He was the perfect choice even though he probably doesn’t even think so.”
“I have a principal and assistant principals who let me be me,” Sarajian said. “Mr. Orlak is a great supervisor, he helps me in so many ways, especially when I came back to teaching. I get to teach with legends like [Jeff] Jasper and [Karen] Kosch, and then I have all these wonderful young teachers that we have in our department and they are amazing to work with and they take care of me. It’s amazing.“
But Sarajian believes that the real magic comes from the students.
“Some days I come in and I can barely move and then I get these kids who are just great kids,” Sarajian said. “They’re the ones who give me the energy, they’re the ones who get me going so if I’m any good, it’s because they’re good.”
Infograph by Kayla Barry
