As Suzana Duby, beloved AP Language and Composition and AP Seminar teacher, swiftly writes in script across the board, she preaches a lifetime of stories, analytical thinking and displays a level of compassion noted by many of her students. To commemorate her hard work as a teacher and impactful personality, Duby received the Teacher of the Year honorary award from the National Honor Society’s 2025 inductees.
“It’s really nice when students acknowledge the work you do to prepare for class and help them grow as people, because you don’t always as a teacher get that confirmation, because teaching is really a leap of faith,” Duby said.
Duby believes students picked her for this award because they find comfort in her classroom, and she hopes she has created a safe environment for students to ask questions and share their own thoughts. Although she expressed that it is hard to tell if her work is being acknowledged or if she is truly helping students grow, she believes this award confirms her success.
Duby has worked at West Essex for six years and has been teaching for 17.. While she began her career as a teacher, Duby chose to explore another career path in between. She practiced law for 16 years but later decided to come back to teaching.
“I had other opportunities in law that I could have gone to, but I really wanted to go back to this,” Duby said. “I missed the whole atmosphere.”
Duby initially attended Columbia University for undergraduate school and received her Bachelor’s in English. She minored in education at Barnard College and got her master’s degree in reading at Montclair State. Finally, she received her law degree from Rutgers University.
Duby’s main reason for becoming a teacher was her desire to give back, modeling after two formative teachers in her early education: her English as a second language teacher, Mrs. Grupy, and her second-grade teacher, Mrs. Monetnino. As a young child, only speaking Croatian at the time was alienating, but Duby said Mrs. Groupy was open and kind, and that she was one of those teachers who was able to move you forward no matter what place you were at in your learning. Additionally, Duby said she will never forget Mrs. Monetnino because she made her feel special by having her teach other students how to read.
She believes that both of these teachers left a profound impact on her and were pivotal in her learning process. Duby aspires to be a similar kind of educator; a positive figure for her students who helps them advance intellectually.
“It is easy to teach stuff, but it is the attitude that matters,” Duby said. “Taking chances, taking intellectual risks, feeling confident. That’s such an important component of being a good learner and knowing you can do it.”
Duby says that she loves both AP Language and Composition and AP Seminar for different reasons. She enjoys teaching the analytical side and argumentative aspects of AP Language and Composition because of its connection to her past as an attorney. She enjoys seeing the growth of students as they focus on nonfiction, an unfavorable genre of literature for many of them. Duby said her favorite book to teach is “The Great Gatsby” because of the freedom it gives her as a teacher. She said she has never presented this book the same way in all of her years of teaching it.
Additionally, seeing students get excited over their research topic is Duby’s favorite part about AP Seminar. Although she says it is a demanding class, she said students never complain about their homework because they truly love their topic of study. She loves to watch them lean into the research process and begin their journey.
Most importantly, Duby encourages students and teachers to never stop growing and to truly dig into their studies.
“Don’t stop growing,” Duby said. “Always learn. Learning should be something you lean into. It isn’t really about checking off your homework, it is being curious about it and finding its value.”
