Hopewell Valley Central High School fine arts teacher Dr. Robert O`Boyle and his dog, Laddie.
Hopewell Valley Central High School’s fine arts teacher Dr. Robert O’Boyle marched along side graduates to receive Princeton University’s Distinguished Secondary School Teaching Award at the school’s 266th Commencement on June 4.
The prize, which lauded four outstanding New Jersey teachers, comes with a $5,000 award for O’Boyle and $3,000 for the CHS library.
More than 200 nominees competed for the prize, which is awarded based on a teacher’s resume and teaching philosophy, supporting materials from peers and students, interviews with the candidate and colleagues and teacher observation.
For 33 years, O’Boyle has taught fine arts and Advanced Placement classes at HVCHS.
He has numerous degrees, including a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arts of Philadelphia, a Masters of Fine Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and a double Ph.D in Fine Arts and Iconography from the Union Institute and University of Cincinnati.
O`Boyle said his teaching philosophy is to “establish a good skill basis so students will be able to depict the imagery and visual language that (he is) teaching.” ”
Along with winning the Hopewell Valley’s Teacher of the Year award twice, O`Boyle has been recognized by the Rhode Island School of Design and Philadelphia University.
O’Boyle said the cash prize will allow him to focus on his own art work this summer, including line drawings of his garden and silverpoints (a Renaissance technique in which artists draw with metals, such as silver) based on mythological characters. He is also working on a memoir.
More information is online at hvrsd.org.
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