People

Today, I interviewed our new assistant principal, Mrs. Prinz. She is an amazing, hard-working mom and assistant principal. I am a freshman so I was nervous coming into the High School, but I met Mrs. Prinz during orientation and she helped me with my schedule and made sure I was all set for my first day of school. This is why I was very excited to sit down and get to know her and share with you a little bit about her as well. I asked her a few questions like:

“Why did you choose this particular high school?”

“Where did you go to school?”

“When you walk into your ideal High school what do you see?”

“What motivates you every day?”

Mrs. Prinz immediately greeted me with her joyful bubbly personality. She was so excited to sit down with me and be interviewed. She told me it was her first time being interviewed as an assistant principal of Comsewogue.

The first question that I asked her was, ¨Why did you choose this High School?¨ She answered passionately, “Comsewogue seems to always be looking for the best they can do for their students, they always put their students first.”

Mrs. Prinz has also been teaching for 15 years, with the final at Boyle. I was curious about where she went to school so I asked her and I was surprised by her answer. She told me she got her bachelor's at Boston University and her master's and CIS at Hofstra University. The thing that really amazed me is that she is currently a student at Hofstra for her doctorate. I think this is truly impressive because when she has a hard-working job and goes to college at the same time; she definitely needs something to motivate her.

Good thing Mrs. Prinz has her kids and her husband. She says they are all supportive of her dreams and what she wants to do. These include her daughter, Sera, who is in 8th grade at JFK along with her brother, Ethan, who is in 6th grade. Mrs. Prinz believes that the 9-period bell schedule is what the school needs to take the next big jump. The 9-period bell schedule will give students more opportunities to do more elective classes to learn and enjoy what they love to do. This will also give us the opportunity to take more elective classes. I think this is a really good idea to give this school what it needs to make the next big jump.

To finish off that thought I asked her, “when you walk into your ideal High school what do you see?” She sees everyone working together, meaning teachers in the middle of the classroom with the students working with them, not in the front of the classroom.

I was really thankful for this opportunity to interview Mrs. Prinz. I think we can all agree Mrs. Prinz is going to be a great assistant Principal at Comsewogue Highschool. I can’t wait for all the things she is going to do to make this school bigger and better.

As most students may know by now, our beloved science teacher, Mrs. Casey, is retiring along with the class of 2022 this year. Mrs. Casey, who has been working at Comsewogue for 27 years now, is one of the best teachers Comsewogue has to offer. She has a great teaching style and prepares the students for their Regents exams and life itself. I recently was able to interview Mrs. Casey about her retirement and asked a couple of questions in order for us to gauge a little more about Mrs. Casey and her fantastic career.

The first question that Mrs. Casey was asked: “How long has your career been?” As I stated before, she has been at Comsewogue for 27 years, but most people may have not known that she also taught at Stony Brook University for 15 years and Suffolk Community College for 30 years! She taught at both of these schools as an Adjunct Associate Professor, since she worked full time at Comsewogue while she taught there as well.

Curious to find out more about why she started teaching in the first place, Mrs. Casey was asked “Why did you want to become a teacher?” This answer may shock some people as her response was: “I actually did not start out as a teacher. I started off as a pharmacologist, which was research and development for new drugs.” The reason why she became a teacher was that while she was teaching at Suffolk and working as a pharmacologist at the same time, it was clear to her that teaching was more her passion. She realized that she did not want to stay in a lab all day; instead, she would become a teacher. That is when Mrs. Casey got hired here at Comsewogue.

Mrs. Casey teaches a variety of classes and is also involved in many clubs that all students can join. Some of these include Chemistry, Intel Prep, Forensic Science, SADD club, LEAP club, the Science Club, and Peer Pals. I asked her what was her favorite class to teach, and her response was, “I actually don’t have one.” She enjoys the difference in her school day as she does not need to teach the same thing over and over all day long.

Who are the students that stood out to Mrs. Casey the most over her 27 years at Comsewogue? This list of students includes people who graduated a long time ago and have well-established careers and people who are still at Comsewogue today. The students who stood out to her are Spencer Williams, Hannah Lawrence, Caelem Pilkington, Teddy Feldman, and many more! I asked why these students stood out to her and her response was, “their personality, their intelligence, and that they are all caring.” So my advice is to be funny and do well on her tests, and she will like you.

Another question that I asked Mrs. Casey was, “What are the highlights of your career?” She explained that the answer to this question is that her highlights are seeing her students in the future, viewing their success, and seeing how they changed throughout the years.

For the people who did not get the pleasure of getting to know Mrs. Casey, here are some fun facts about her: She has 3 children, 2 of them are teachers in New York, one of them here at Comsewogue, and the other is a pediatrician in Saint Louis. She has 2 grandchildren, is an avid voter, loves to water raft, was on a division-one swim team in college, and she loves to bake. Mrs. Casey loves to throw parties for her classes and bake for them. Another fun fact about her is that she loves to read. She reads 2-4 books per week! Mrs. Casey combines her admiration for reading with her competitive nature in order to win all of her reading competitions in elementary school. If that doesn’t scream fun fact, I don't know what does!

What are Mrs. Casey's plans for after retirement? Well, first of all, she wants to travel… a lot. She informed me that she already planned a road trip all the way to Alaska! She plans on driving through the Dakotas, and also explains that she is interested in visiting the Carolinas too. She does want to stay in New York, though, and has already purchased her retirement home.

Mrs. Casey has worked a long and great career whether it was at Comsewogue or the other places she worked. Comsewogue will be sad to see her go, but her memory and legacy of her teaching career will long be remembered within the Comsewogue walls.

This upcoming June will not only be the Class of 2022’s last semester at CHS, but also the last for one of Comsewogue’s best, Mrs. Svoboda. Our beloved librarian, Mrs. Svoboda is celebrating her 30th year working in the Comsewogue School District. During her career, she has spent time in multiple libraries throughout the district. Some of you may remember her from your elementary days at Terryville where she started “The Book and Lunch Club”. She also spent some years as the librarian at Boyle Road. After spending most of her years at the elementary level, eight years ago she reluctantly moved up to CHS where she will finish her rewarding career. To no surprise when asked which building she enjoyed working in the best? “The high school is probably my favorite” she exclaimed!

Mrs. Svoboda is a familiar face around our community. Besides residing in Port Jefferson Station, she has also worked part-time at the Comsewogue Public Library throughout the years. Mrs. Svoboda has a history of being surrounded by books. Her journey as a librarian began as a teenager when she got her first part-time job working at the Seaford Public Library in Nassau County. This experience along with fond memories of trips to the library with her father as a child, and a love for books influenced her choice to steer away from majoring in business and changing to an English major. Studying English eventually led to obtaining a school librarian certification paving the way to where she is today. Fortunately, the students of Comsewogue have had the privilege of having Mrs. Svoboda’s dedicated service and expertise impact them for the last three decades.

Although Mrs. Svoboda’s chapter at Comsewogue High School is nearing the end, the pages foreshadow her next endeavor… concentrating on being a full-time grandma. Those lucky grandkids are going to have some really fantastic storytimes! Their gain is our loss as trips to the media center will never be the same. Upon entering the library we always knew that we could depend on Mrs. Svoboda and that she was there for us to aid with research, recommend a book or simply have a friendly conversation. On behalf of Comsewogue, thank you Mrs. Svoboda for bringing so much joy to our students over the years whether it be through membership in one of your book clubs or for sharing your love of books and creating an inviting atmosphere in your library, we appreciate everything you have shared with us. You will truly be missed!