Robert Fenster

Hillsborough, NJ | Years Taught: 28

His advice to a beginning teacher: “Never underestimate your power. You can lift children up with meaningful praise or destroy them with belittling sarcasm and insults. Your constructive criticism can be the difference between proficiency and mastery. And your human connection to a child in need can save a life. Remind yourself of this daily.”

Additional Recognition

  • 2023 – Global Learning Fellowship, National Education Association Foundation
  • 2023 – Mildred Barry Garvin Prize, New Jersey Historical Commission
  • 2023 – Princeton Prize for Distinguished Secondary School Teaching, Princeton University
  • 2023 – Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Award, Organization of American Historians
  • 2022 – Claes Nobel Top Ten Educator of the Year Award, National Society of High School Scholars
  • 2022 – Educational Ambassador Award, Pegasus Springs Education Collective
  • 2022 – Teaching Award, The New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance
  • 2021 • Paul A. Gagnon Prize from National Council for History Education
  • 2019 • Swensrud Teacher Fellowship, Massachusetts Historical Society
  • 2019 • Secondary Education Teacher of the Year from New Jersey Council for Social Studies
  • 2019 • Law-Related Education Teacher of the Year from American Lawyers Alliance
  • 2018 • William Reese Fellowship, Crystal Bridges Museum
  • 2017 • Claes Nobel Top Ten Educator of the Year from National Society of High School Scholars
  • 2011 • Teacher of the Year, Jewish Guild for the Blind’s Guild Scholar Program
  • 2007 • Phebe and Zephaniah Swift Moore Teaching Award from Amherst College
  • 2006 • Teacher of the Year, Institute for Domestic and International Affairs
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