Mr. Zachary Dzierzgowski, a former WTHS student, has been proudly welcomed back to his alma mater as an esteemed member of the Foreign Language Department. Because of the positive experience he had here as a student at WTHS, Dziergowski felt empowered to pursue a job that would put him alongside his former teachers. Being an alumnus has eased the difficulty many new teachers face when entering the profession, yet being in the building as the teacher instead of the student is still very different for Dzierzgowski.

At The College of New Jersey, Dzierzgowski entered an honors program and majored in History on a pre-law track; however, he later realized his love for language and other cultures and switched his major to Communicative Language Pedagogy and Spanish Language and Culture by the end of his first semester.

Dzierzgowski enjoys many hobbies such as traveling, exercising, theater, singing, reading and writing. He states that he is currently writing a play with another Washington Township High School graduate, Kaitlyn Gallagher. The play is a “Halloween spoof of “’A Christmas Carol,’”; the operating title is currently, “A Christmas Spooky Carol,” which is in the process of revision and on the road to publication.

Outside of school, Dzierzgowski thrives on reading and understanding the “in-betweens of the brain”. This, he believes, is how we acquire new language. He is incorporating the information he learns from his extensive readings into his teaching to help students learn more fluently and efficiently.

A world traveler, Dzierzgowski, has been to twelve different countries in four years including Italy, Vatican City, Turkey, Israel, France, Holland, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungry, Belgium, Portugal, and Mexico. He made it clear that his favorite place to visit has been Spain by far, specifically Palma de Mallorca.

“I love Spain so much. I keep going back in the summers with the Council on International Educational Exchanges as a Program Leader,” Dzierzgowski said. He also included he would thoroughly enjoy visiting Buenos Aires over any place in the world; however, traveling back to Spain to experience the various places he has not visited yet is something he is highly excited for.

Turkey, in his opinion, was the most culturally and historically diverse place he had ever been in his four years of traveling. “Without sensationalizing, the Islamic heritage and Arabic culture were the most unfamiliar elements I have experienced as a traveler, and it was different for me in a very positive way. I love exploring and learning about alternate perspectives and ways of living. I think once you realize there are different ways of doing things and living, you learn more about the important things that bring us together as people,” Dzierzgowski stated.

“I don’t want to be the teacher who solely uses a textbook.” Dzierzgowski explained how he admires both the creative freedom and the resources WTHS provides to allow self-expression to both teachers and students.

“My job as a conveyor of knowledge is to create an environment to experience language naturally. Textbooks do not teach content with personality; I want my classroom to be as comprehensible and as entertaining as possible. In addition to creating independent learners, I want to help nurture people who respect each other and themselves.”

Dzierzgowski’s goal in the next five years is to pursue an advanced degree, explaining how he hopes to have his Master’s in Foreign Language and to be seen as a leader in the classroom.

“I see myself in the classroom as a leader. Respected not for being the most intelligent, but as someone who is real and someone who cares” he said.

Success for Dzierzgowski is “seeing the lightbulb above their head light up.” Though it takes time, Dzierzgowski explains, it’s well worth the wait to see students lose their training wheels while interpreting language.

To him, the hardest part of teaching is student apathy: teaching students who don’t care to learn and are only in it for the grade. When students don’t want to learn a language, it’s hard not only for teachers to teach, but also for students to see the value in acquiring a new language. This is why this energetic new teacher, and his teaching partner Ms. Taylor, always try and show the usefulness in learning a new language and understanding different cultures.

Blending township pride with an enthusiastic attitude for teaching has helped Dziergowski make a positive impact on both his students and colleagues thus far.