Alexander Meyer, a coach and former Social Studies and Language Arts teacher, has returned to New Providence High School (NPHS) as a Freshman World Literature teacher. After teaching here for five years, he decided to take an eleven-year break starting in 2014. Now, eleven years later, he is back.

He explained his reason for leaving: “I had little kids, and they were really little, and they were not yet two and not yet four years old.”

The responsibility of teaching and coaching, as well as taking care of little kids, was a lot for Meyer. He realized he “was just missing them growing up.”

Meyer knew leaving was the right choice for his family’s sake. Now that his kids are older, he is very excited to be back teaching what he loves at NPHS.

Meyer said: “It’s been really great. It’s been fun to be back in a classroom again. It’s been fun to work with my colleagues again, who I moved from all those years ago. I always liked working in New Providence. One of the reasons I stayed to coach is it’s a wonderful town to work with and really great families and smart, hard working kids, and honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better place to do it.”

One thing Meyer loves doing is helping kids that want to work hard and want to grow. This applies to both teaching and coaching.  He is enthusiastic about the idea that everyone should do something they enjoy and can improve on.

This year Meyer is also the head coach of the girls cross country and track team. He started coaching his first season in 2012, and was his main job from 2014 till now.

“I myself am very competitive,” Meyer said.

Meyer’s coaching techniques seem to relate to and help with his teaching methods by supporting every student with their own personal needs.

Julia Feuerstein, one of Meyer’s students in Period 6 for Honors World Literature said: “I enjoy his class because he makes it very individualized. Like, he talks to each person and understands where they’re coming from.”

Feuerstein also stated that she enjoyed the ‘fish bowl’ conversations that Meyer does in his classes, where a few students would go into the center of the room and discuss or debate a topic or argument, and the other students would take notes of the conversation.

Returning to a full time teaching job, in addition to coaching after school, as well as grading and planning at night can be a struggle. 

“It’s very busy. Scheduling is the biggest challenge now being back doing both,” he said.

He doesn’t mind because he enjoys what he’s doing and the people surrounding it.

“I have other good coaches that I work with. I have very helpful colleagues in the department, and I, relatively speaking, have a pretty easy course load to teach with all freshmen,” Meyer said.

After a decade, Meyer’s return as a Language Arts teacher at NPHS starts a new chapter  not just for him, but also for his students that he will continue to inspire.