Harvard Club of Long Island

The Heritage Club at Bethpage

99 Quaker Meeting House Road

Farmingdale, NY 11735

Cost: $50/adult; $25/child under 12

Please join us to honor the eight Long Island teachers who will receive the “Distinguished Teacher Award for 2026!”  All honorees were nominated by current Harvard undergraduates and then selected by the Harvard Club of Long Island’s Distinguished Teacher Awards Committee.

The honorees played a critical role in their nominators’ journey to Harvard, taught their nominators important lessons, and helped the nominators become who they are today. The voices of the honorees continue to guide and inspire the nominators.

Harvard Professor Joyce Chaplin will deliver the keynote address. She is the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard University and she will be discussing her most recent book: The Franklin Stove: An Unintended American Revolution (2025). Benjamin Franklin’s stove was his hypothesis for how to invent a way out of a climate crisis called the "Little Ice Age,” when bitter winters sometimes brought life to a standstill.

At the awards ceremony, we will announce which Distinguished Teacher of 2026 will also receive a scholarship for a “Harvard Experience” on the Harvard campus.

The 2026 Distinguished Teacher Award honorees include:

Please RSVP to Melissa Struck at struckmelissa@gmail.com by March 7, 2026, and be sure to include the names of all guests. You can mail a check payable to “Harvard Club of Long Island” to Melissa Struck, 10 Primrose Court, Garden City, NY 11530.