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Maria DeBruin Wins NJ Milken Award

 

 

Visiting dignitaries congratulate Maria DeBruin on her Milken Educator Award. Walter Hrycenko (third from right), was Maria's high school AP Chemistry teacher; he is now the Brick Township district's science supervisor. When Maria was on parental leave from her job as a chemist at Merck, she ran into her former teacher while shopping at Costco. "If you ever have a job open, I want to be a teacher," she told him then.

From left, New Jersey State Board of Education Member Edithe Fulton; Brick Township School District Superintendent Dennis Filippone; Brick Memorial High School Principal Dr. Richard Caldes; recipient Maria DeBruin; Walter Hrycenko, science supervisor for Brick Township School District; Dr. Jane Foley, senior vice president of the Milken Educator Awards; and New Jersey Department of Education Commissioner Kimberley Harrington.