East Orange teacher honored by state

Theresa Maughan has been teaching at East Orange STEM Academy for 37 years.

She teaches Early American History to 10th graders and was recently named one of the 71 state-level nominees for the 2025 National History Day Teacher of the Year Award.

Each year National History Day selects one middle school teacher and one high school teacher as their Teacher of the Year, which celebrates outstanding history scholarship and innovative classroom instruction. Each national winner receives a $5,000 cash prize.

While Maughan wasn’t a winner, it was a great experience for her.

“It’s not so much whether you walk away with a medal or not,” she said. “Students from the 50 states and as far away as Singapore, Korea…All of the students who were chosen to represent their state come together at The University of Maryland.”

Maughan described the welcoming ceremony in which each student receives a bag of buttons. Each button represents each region.

“When students meet, they’re very excited to be able to exchange buttons,” she said. “New Jersey students exchange from Ohio or Alaska. They love collecting the buttons from different regions they met other students from.”

This year’s 2025 National History Day theme was Rights and Responsibilities.

Maughan said she is committed to the program because she sees the benefits in the skills that students develop.

“A topic of interest, it can connect with science, any topic that connects with the current theme,” she said. “I truly believe what we’re doing is important, encouraging enthusiasm with an academic event. Students commit for months doing research.”

The East Orange teacher who lives in Randolph says the most rewarding thing about teaching is students recognizing their own intellect.

“Having students recognize they can control the direction their lives go in,” she said. “I wouldn’t be a teacher if there wasn’t joy on a day-to-day basis. I enjoy my students. You have to build that relationship before you can think about extending content knowledge.”

But there are also challenges. Maughan mentions inequity, cross zip codes, and resources to name a few.

“We have students who come from different parts of the world and speak many languages,” she said. “We have to ensure the parents feel welcome to come to our building.”

There’s also the issue that teachers don’t always have adequate pay—but they continue to do the work.

“We understand what our purpose is,” Maughan said.

Maughan said she’s a history geek. She describes teaching as a blending of her love of history.

Her advice to students is to follow their own path.

“Find what they enjoy doing, to make sure they don’t get side-tracked,” she said. “There will be challenges, but don’t get deterred. Be persistent and make sure it’s something they’ll be able to do for a long time. There’s a difference between finding a job and finding a career.”

When Maughan isn’t teaching she also works as a professional consultant. She reads extensively and enjoys time with her family.

“I love the New Jersey beaches,” she said. “I’m a distance walker. That’s my form of relaxation.”

To learn more about East Orange STEM Academy High School visit: https://stem.eastorange.k12.nj.us/