AFTER WORKING as a language at THHS for seventeen years,Hebrew teacher Ruth Cooperman has decided to retire.
Ms. Cooperman first found inspiration to become a teacher when she worked in foreign trade. She realized she wanted to work with students and “give something back to society.”
Having studied French for two years and Spanish at a seven week summer program, Ms. Cooperman applied for a job at Francis Lewis High School. To her great surprise, she found herself teaching her first class that same afternoon with “knees shaking” in anxiety.
She then taught at Cardozo High for twenty years and eventually became the Assistant Principal of Foreign Languages there.
One day, she walked through her temple, she bumped into a Hebrew stu- dent from THHS. To her delight, the student told her the school needed a Hebrew teacher and Ms. Cooperman decided to apply for the job.
On retiring, she says, “I will leave Townsend Harris High School with the fondest memories of all the wonderful people that work here.”
Classical Languages teacher Sara Laderoute shares an office with Ms. Cooperman, and she called her colleague an amazing teacher and person. She was also impressed by Ms. Cooperman’s abilities, saying ” [Ms. Cooperman] could remember everything, no matter how small.”
Ms. Cooperman already has a list of what she plans to do after her retirement. Some of these plans include swimming more, taking piano lessons, visiting her friends more often, and of course, sleeping past 5:15AM every morning.
