Mr. Sylvester, a teacher of 9th grade Social Studies, is leaving the MHRD community after a dedicated 11 years of teaching. His first two years of teaching were at Morris Knolls, until he began teaching at Morris Hills, where he has been for the past nine years. Mr. Sylvester has been a key member of our school’s community, and has taught classes such as Criminology, World History, and Anthropology. In addition to his accolades in the educational realm, he has also coached Tennis, Lacrosse, and Wrestling. In recent years, he has also served as the junior class advisor. Now, as he opens a new chapter in his life, he will be taking up the position of principal at Frankford Middle School.
Mr. Sylvester was first inspired to be a teacher by his father, who was a teacher and administrator for many years. This greatly exposed Mr. Sylvester to the profession of an educator from an early age. His junior year history teacher, Mr. Boyle, was also someone that had a profound impact on his interest in teaching. He inspired Mr. Sylvester to become a teacher and make school fun for his students.
Mr. Sylvester has been an extremely impactful member of the Morris Hills community, the Social Studies Department, and the Athletic Department. He has inspired all his colleagues and students to reach their full potential and be the best they can be. Above all, he hopes that his greatest impact on others is “a sense of belonging and importance in the world and the knowledge that their role is just as important as anyone else’s in our society and our country.” We are confident that he will continue to influence others in the same way in his new role.
Mr. Sylvester’s impact has gone far beyond the classroom, forming numerous other connections. Mr. Bollete has been a friend of Mr. Sylvester since they were 9 years old, when they met through their youth wrestling program. They both attended middle school and high school together at Kitanny and both started teaching at the exact same time. They both were teachers in the district although at two different schools.
When Mr. Sylvester got a teaching position at Morris Hills in 2015, they both decided to start coaching the wrestling team. Together with Mr. Wanamaker (also a Kitantiny graduate and close friend of Mr. Sylvester) they built the wrestling program to what it is today. Mr. Sylvester was the first coach of their Girls Wrestling team, with that responsibility now falling into the hands of Mr. Wanamaker. The three friends only ask one thing of their athletes: to leave the program in a better way than they found it.“I believe that there are so many examples of how Mr. Sylvester is doing just that as he departs from Morris Hills,” Mr. Bollete comments. He wishes Mr. Sylvester great luck in his new position and thanks him for everything he has done for the school.
Looking back, Mr. Sylvester cherishes his time here at Morris Hills and the memories he has made. Most of all, he values the strong sense of community here, emphasizing, “It’s a great place to go to work and go to school.” Overall, one of the things he looks forward to the most in his
new role is building strong relationships with his colleagues and students, one of the aspects of his life here at Morris Hills that he will treasure forever.