Meet Stuyvesant’s Newest Teachers!

Starting a new school year is undeniably difficult. The school community must adjust to new routines, more work, and, correspondingly, less sleep. This transition can be especially significant and challenging for certain teachers—that is, Stuyvesant’s newest faculty members. The Spectator interviewed some of Stuy’s newest teachers and learned how they got into teaching and their current subjects. 

Douglas Zhu, Honors Chemistry

Chemistry teacher Douglas Zhu has always had a special connection with teaching: he worked as a tutor in college as a part-time job. After tutoring for three years, Zhu found his love and passion for teaching. “That’s where I discovered I really like to teach people things [and] I really like to help people out—that’s how I got into the profession,” he said. Over time, this passion has only grown. “Seeing my work translate in real time into people’s growth and people’s lives, I can tell myself: ‘This is because of me; I’m making a difference in the world,’” Zhu explained.

Zhu was born in China and, at a young age, moved to New York, where he received his entire education. “I spent my entire life as part of the New York City public school system,” he said. In fact, Zhu attended Stuyvesant, where he was taught by chemistry teachers Dr. Jeffrey Kivi, Jee Paik, and Kristyn Pluchino. “I had brilliant teachers [who] showed me how interesting chemistry is,” Zhu recalled. “It really was the most interesting subject out of all the subjects here to me.” After attending Stuyvesant, Zhu majored in chemistry at New York University for his undergraduate degree and later attended Teachers’ College at Columbia University, which was a detour from his original plan to work in a chemistry lab.

Before his return to Stuyvesant, Zhu taught at Gramercy Arts High School, a public high school in Manhattan. This was his first teaching job, and his experience there fueled his desire to teach at his alma mater. “At my previous school, I was the only chemistry teacher. Although there are many positives to teaching at a small school, I just wanted to be part of a larger chemistry team where I can develop and grow more professionally,” Zhu explained. Furthermore, his high school experience at Stuyvesant encouraged him to return as a teacher. “I used to come to this school. I thought it would be cool to come back and teach,” he said. Zhu was in contact with Pluchino, who informed him of an opening at Stuyvesant.

            Zhu sees being part of a larger educational team as an opportunity for him to grow professionally. “I don’t see [working at a larger school] as a negative, though, because this means that I can grow professionally in ways that I haven’t been able to before through collaboration and teamwork,” said Zhu.

Thus far, Zhu has had a positive experience at Stuyvesant, noting his Honors Chemistry sophomores’ excitement. “Everyone seems really enthusiastic to learn—it’s great,” he said. Zhu is just as excited to see his classes grow. “I think it will be more challenging for me as a professional to teach people who already push themselves so much. How can I add value into their lives when they’re already doing such a terrific job? I think that’s a unique challenge for teaching at a school like Stuy,” added Zhu. 

Zhu hopes his class holds value in students’ lives outside of chemistry. “I want my class to be useful,” he said. “[I want students] to learn problem-solving skills that they can apply to other aspects. I plan on helping students develop these skills by presenting tough multi-step problems and showing them ways to work through these problems by breaking them down into multiple simpler problems that can be solved individually,” Zhu described.

Anne Cooperstone, American Literature, Freshman Composition

Some students may already recognize English teacher Anne Cooperstone, who worked as a teaching assistant for English teacher Dr. Emily Moore’s Foundations of Literature class during the 2023-2024 Spring Term. To the delight of many, Cooperstone is back. “I fell in love with the school, and I loved my time, and I loved my students, and I loved learning from all of the English teachers,” she explained. “When the opportunity arose to come work at Stuy, I could not help but say ‘yes’.”

However, Cooperstone’s path prior to Stuyvesant was far from orthodox. Cooperstone grew up in Connecticut and, despite now working at a high school, she struggled in her early education. “I actually hated school. Growing up, I was a miserable student,” Cooperstone described. Though she balked under the confines of a rigid school system, Cooperstone has always loved to read and write. “I thought I was such a rebel, because I would read my own book under the desk while I was supposed to be reading the book that they assigned,” she shared.

Cooperstone went on to attend Wesleyan University, where she studied film and English. “I have always loved movies. When I got to college and took my first film class, I couldn’t believe there was an entire major dedicated to watching and talking about movies. It felt like I was getting away with something,” she explained. After college, Cooperstone chose to pursue the film industry as her next career-advancing move. “I graduated college in 2017; I moved to L.A., worked at a talent agency, and then a reality TV company,” Cooperstone recalled. However, she only stayed in L.A. for one year. “I hated it,” she said. “It was so monotonous.”

This experience out west convinced Cooperstone that film was not right for her. Instead, she turned back to her childhood love of literature and returned to the East Coast to work as an editorial producer while applying to Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs. During this period, Cooperstone decided she wanted to be an English teacher. “Once I realized that being an English teacher is just getting to talk to cool, brilliant kids about books all day, it sold me,” she explained. Cooperstone enrolled in Stony Brook University’s MFA program, where she studied for two years before working at St. Ann’s School, a private high school in Brooklyn. In the fall of 2023, Cooperstone started her masters, finishing a two-year program in only one year. “Once you realize you want to be doing something, it feels like you can’t get there soon enough,” Cooperstone said. 

Outside of teaching, Cooperstone has varying interests. “I have a dog. His name is Oslo. He is a very curious creature, but I love him very much,” she shared. Cooperstone also continues to enjoy film and television, especially reality TV, as well as dancing and playing chess.

Cooperstone has a few goals she hopes to fulfill this school year. “My goals are to try to be as grateful and present as I can,” she said. “My secondary goal is to convince at least one kid who thinks that they hate English that they actually love English [...]. One significant reason I didn’t like school growing up was because I felt that my teachers never saw me as I was,” Cooperstone explained. “As a teacher now, I want my students to feel seen—for them to know that I know that they are autonomous and complicated people who live and exist inside their full lives, beyond the 40 minutes I see them in the classroom.” Overall, Cooperstone cannot wait for the year ahead. “I [leave] every class having more energy than I did when I started, which is how you know you’re really loving something,” she said.

Kristen Rush, Foundations of Literature, Writing in the World

Growing up, English teacher Kristen Rush never considered teaching to be an interesting career path. However, following college, she discovered her love of the profession. After 14 years of teaching, she came to Stuyvesant, excited to meet new students and join the school community. 

Though Rush grew up in Virginia, she always had a close connection with New York City. “All my family is from New York, and my parents were seven months pregnant with me when they moved out of Manhattan and down to VA.,” Rush described in an email interview. She has lived in New York since graduate school and has no plans to leave. However, following college, where she studied history, Rush was unsure of her future career, so she found herself teaching in China as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. “I was drawn to international relations and foreign policy. That’s one of the reasons I chose to apply to [the] Peace Corps right after graduation—I figured that whatever kind of work I ended up doing, serving as a Peace Corps volunteer would be a good foundation for it,” Rush explained. She taught speaking and listening classes to freshmen English Language majors, as well as literature classes to juniors and seniors at the Lanzhou University of Technology in Gansu, China. 

There, she unexpectedly discovered her passion for teaching. “Growing up, [...] I loved many of my teachers but felt kind of sorry for them, stuck in the same classrooms, teaching the same content over and over as students moved through and graduated. In the Peace Corps, teaching college freshmen, I quickly discovered how wrong I was. Teachers teach people, and people are endlessly interesting and challenging,” Rush said. After deciding on teaching, choosing a focus was easy. “There was no question for me that I wanted to teach English; the English classroom was always where I felt most at home as a student, and the community building that happens when we read, discuss, and write together is beautiful to me,” Rush described.

Rush’s first year of teaching was at Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance, a small high school located in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She later transitioned to another small Brooklyn high school—the High School for Public Service in East Flatbush. She enjoyed the community and environment that small schools fostered. “I also had a lot of freedom and flexibility in what and how I taught, which was wonderful,” Rush added. 

However, following her 13th year working in Brooklyn, Rush became interested in switching schools. “After I had my children—they are one [year old] and three [years old]—I began looking for a school where I could really focus on my teaching without many of the additional responsibilities that come with a small school community,” Rush explained. She heard about Stuyvesant through her friend and fellow English teacher Megan Weller, who has taught at Stuyvesant for the past nine years. “While I was happy at my previous school for a long time, the joy [Weller] takes in her work here put Stuyvesant on my professional radar,” Rush said. Although she liked the familiar environment of a small school, Rush looks forward to working in one that is six times its size. “I am looking forward to focusing on my teaching here and to growing alongside the talented students here at Stuy,” she explained. “I'm also excited to work collaboratively within a big department, which makes building new units and curriculum easier to do well!”

For the upcoming school year, Rush’s main goal is to adapt to the Stuyvesant community and get to know her students. “My brain lights up when I'm in the classroom as students’ questions and thinking expand my own,” Rush said. Already, she has noted Stuyvesant students’ unique independence. “Stuyvesant students have a lot of freedom to manage themselves—no uniform, phones allowed in the building, open campus—which creates a comfortable and busy vibe in the hallways. It feels almost like a college campus in that way!” Rush said. Outside of the classroom, Rush is interested in theater and sings in a community chorus, although she spends much of her time with her toddlers. With her limited free time, Rush does what any English teacher would: “[I] read whenever I can,” she said.

David Scheiman, AP Precalculus, AP Calculus BC

Teaching is in math teacher David Scheiman’s blood—literally. Watching his parents teach imbued a passion for teaching early on. “My father taught at Borough of Manhattan Community College for 30 years. He was a public school teacher as well, and so was my mother,” Scheiman described. Scheiman grew up in Greenwich Village and spent his childhood in New York City, where he attended LaGuardia High School and later Rutgers University as a math and computer science double major. He received his masters at Hunter College and went on to teach in the Department of Education and at Rutgers University. 

Scheiman officially decided to pursue education during his undergraduate studies. “When I was an undergrad, I was helping out students in a smaller setting as a learning assistant, and during that time frame, I felt I wasn’t working,” he described. “Teaching came naturally.” 

Scheiman’s lifelong love for math made choosing a subject to teach an easy decision. He hopes to spread his passion to his students. “I always felt there was a stigma behind mathematics. The typical phrase you hear that ‘I was never good at mathematics,’ or ‘my teacher said I shouldn’t be worried about this,’” Scheiman elaborated. “I wish to get rid of that stigma, and I wish to bring joy to mathematics.” 

Scheiman is nothing if not a “Renaissance man.” He started his teaching career in the New York Department of Education, where he has worked for the past 21 years, all while teaching at Rutgers. For 17 of those 21 years, Scheiman worked at the High School for Math Science and Engineering (HSMSE). “I coached three teams [basketball, baseball, and soccer] there. I was also the Program Chair. I was also the budget coordinator, testing coordinator, survey coordinator, and a math teacher,” Scheiman described. “I’ve taught at other universities as well, such as Manhattan College and City College of New York.” Scheiman chose to leave his most recent post at HSMSE to bring a change of pace to his career. He explained, “[I left because] of growth. When you’re at the same place, you’re in the same relationship for 17 years, and it [eventually] becomes repetitive.”

Scheiman pursues many interests outside of teaching. “I was a professional musician for many years and toured as a jazz musician,” he said. Scheiman went on his first professional tour during his freshman year of college and continued this pursuit for two years after graduating. Despite giving up this career, Scheiman still regularly plays the tuba. Aside from music, Scheiman engages in a diverse array of hobbies and interests. “I love turtles. [...] One of my goals in life is to have a turtle farm,” he said. “I’m a marathon runner. I love running. I’m going to run the Chicago and New York [marathons] pretty soon.” 

In addition to adjusting to Stuyvesant, Scheiman has big goals for the upcoming school year. He emphasized building a feeling of community and camaraderie in his classroom, as he sees this as crucial for a comfortable learning environment. “When students come into my classroom, [I hope they feel] joy, happiness, safe, and calm,” Scheiman said. “Hey, you might be amongst 3,000 students, but I know who you are, and I can see, hey, you need some guidance. And that’s a part of why I wanted to come here.”

Judith Fiedler, Special Education

Dr. Judith Fiedler has always had a variety of interests and attempted various careers, but education was the one that stuck. Now, after teaching at two public high schools in Brooklyn and in Queens, she has come to Stuyvesant, ready to meet dedicated students and to make a mark in their lives. 

Dr. Fiedler grew up in Queens and went to Hunter College High School. Following her graduation, she pursued a few careers—including being a pastry chef and artist’s assistant—before enrolling in Hunter College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in German and worked as a peer tutor. From there, she moved to Santa Cruz to pursue a Ph.D. in linguistics. There, as a teaching assistant, she developed a love for teaching. “When I was a teaching assistant and teacher during my graduate studies, I realized that one of the most exciting components of that period was watching students have key breakthroughs and discoveries and knowing that the skills they were acquiring would have a significant impact on their lives,” Dr. Fiedler explained in an email interview. She returned to New York to join the Teaching Fellows Program and then started working in public schools.

Dr. Fiedler has various interests—many of which seem random, from cats and linguistics to cooking and reading. However, this multitude of fascinations explains Dr. Fiedler’s passion for teaching. She enjoys working with students from diverse backgrounds and a plethora of interests like herself. “As a peer tutor, I had the privilege of working with students of an extraordinary range of ages, languages, and backgrounds and came to understand that people learn in their own, unique ways and develop their own individualized learning strategies. This understanding led to my interest in special education,” Dr. Fiedler explained. She worked as a Special Education teacher at two high schools—August Martin High School in Queens and Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn—before joining the Special Education program at Stuyvesant. “My friend is also a [Special Education] teacher here. She told me that Stuyvesant was planning on building the department and would be looking for a [Special Education] teacher specializing in science, which I had been doing for many years,” Dr. Fiedler described. This year, she is joining the small group of Special Education teachers at Stuyvesant, which is made up of only two people besides herself—Gina Paulson and Tzongjin Lee.

Dr. Fiedler is thrilled to teach students that are engaged and interested in learning. “My interest in teaching at Stuyvesant was triggered by my conversations with another teacher here, who had been a colleague at my previous school. When she would tell me about how dedicated the students here were to learning, I knew that that was an atmosphere I wanted to work in,” she explained. In her first few weeks, Dr. Fiedler has already found this to be the case. “One thing which I have noticed [...] is the consistently high level of interest, engagement, and participation from students. In some settings I have taught in, it has taken a lot of coaxing and encouragement to get students to fully engage; thus far in my (very brief) time here, students have been on board from the get go,” Dr. Fiedler described. 

Besides simply familiarizing herself with the school, Dr. Fiedler’s main goals are to get to know Stuyvesant’s culture, faculty, and students—and, perhaps, to get to show them some pictures of her much-loved cats. Most of all, she’s excited to be able to make an impact on her students’ lives and help them make the breakthroughs and discoveries that made her want to be a teacher in the first place. 

Overall, it is clear that Stuyvesant has introduced an interesting, well-qualified, and passionate batch of new teachers this year. From background touring for a jazz band, to working on reality television in L.A., to being a pastry chef, their diverse experiences are sure to enrich the Stuyvesant community and bring important new perspectives to the beige-colored hallways.