Volume 67, Issue I
Mr. Neil Chervin is certainly one of Briarcliff High School’s more colorful characters. Having been a member of the BHS science faculty for many years, he retired in 2012 to pursue other hobbies, which include scavenging demolished and abandoned architectural sites and making pickles. But time and time again he has proven his unwavering dedication to BHS student body, as he has sel essly remained on call to step in for biology teachers in periods of extended absence.
As current juniors and seniors may remember, the last time Mr. Chervin was called upon was during the 2014- 2015 school year, to step in for Ms. Dyer. His unorthodox but effective methods of teaching left an impression that his former students will not soon forget. Said Kezia Johnson, who took his honors biology class freshman year, “Having Mr. Chervin was such a great experience. His approach to teaching was really unique, and he class with him was always so exciting”. When asked about her favorite lab, Johnson replied, “De nitely that time we did a lab on making milkshakes. That was super fun.”
Most recently, Mr. Chervin has
stepped up to sub in for Ms. Lee, who teaches both freshman and AP Biology. Unfortunately, Ms. Lee was called upon for jury duty, which has required her to spend a period of several weeks away from school. In her absence, Mr. Chervin has mostly stuck to the core regents and AP curricula. However, he did not hesitate to incorporate some of his own unique methods.
“Within the rst couple of days we did this lab,” said AP Biology student Kyra Swatko, “Where we had to write down 50 observations about a burning candle. It was interesting, because at rst glance you wouldn’t think there’d be 50 things to say about a candle. But if you really pay attention, there’s actually so much going on”. This lab, conducted in every one of Mr. Chervin’s classes, is quite representative of his teaching philosophy–to push students not to excel in just one subject area, but to encourage them to think outside the box.
At press time, Ms. Lee was back from jury duty, and had resumed teaching full time. However, one would suspect that it’ll only be a matter of time before Mr. Chervin is back again, in one form or another.
briarcliffbulletin.com 