After 26 years teaching at WHB, Mrs. Horowitz has decided to switch textbooks and calculators for tennis rackets and golf clubs, with 2021 being her final year as a teacher. She has been a great help and mentor to her students throughout her career and will be missed. Let’s go back to the beginning and learn more about how she made it to room 216. 

Prior to coming to Westhampton she served in the United States Air Force as a sergeant specializing in Navigation, Communications and Radar electronics, replace and repair at Eglin Air Force Base. She was also a police officer for Southold Town, a paralegal, and has done numerous other careers in her past.

After serving her country, she began her career with the Westhampton Beach School District. She was first hired at the Westhampton Beach Elementary School, not at the high school, to teach in kindergarten and first grade as the Writing to Read Coordinator. She caught the eye of the principal at the time, Mrs. Lawler, for her ability to repair electronics. Her first task was to repair ten, 9” floppy disk computers. In which Mrs. Horowitz replied, “I told her that they belonged in a museum,” and Mrs. Lawler replied, “That is all we have, please fix them and get them working, you have two weeks.” As the two weeks came to close, she had them done by the first day of school. 

Those 9” floppy disk computers were the beginning of her journey to the high school. Mrs. Horowitz and Mrs. Lawler were able to persuade the board of education to update the computers after they saw what the children were capable of doing with them. Soon after, they not only updated kindergarten through first grade, but had BOCES come and wire the entire elementary school for computers.  

About a year later Mrs. Horowitz was transferred up to the high school and helped out with the implementation of computers there. At the same time she also worked with the teachers in the business department and finished up student teaching in math with Mr. Matros. She explained, “Upon completion of my Secondary Education in Business and Mathematics, I was hired to teach in the Business department and later … was also asked to teach math.” 

Throughout her teaching career, Mrs. Horowitz has impacted the lives of many of her students academically. Sophomore, Emma Davis, shared, When it comes to my academic success, she has taught me that mistakes are necessary in order to learn. We will never really know what we’re doing unless we make a mistake. Mrs. Horowitz has taught me that as we live and learn, we are also gaining confidence in ourselves. I feel as if I am more capable in not just classes instructed by Mrs. Horowitz, but also in all my other classes.” 

Her presence in the classroom is also something that is loved by her students. Emma says, “I am going to miss how Mrs. Horowitz made my mornings a little bit easier just by her presence. Walking into my first period class with her has always put a smile on my face. Mrs. Horowitz has this power where she makes you excited to learn each and every day. She tries her best to make great relationships with her students and never fails to help them with anything they need. Overall, I am going to miss all of the advice she has given throughout this school year about my future. Mrs. Horowitz has given me the confidence I need  in order to succeed in everything that I do.”

There is much Mrs. Horowitz will miss about WHB. She shared, “I will miss the glow of satisfaction on the faces of those who finally caught on to how to do a math problem correctly, or the confidence developed by those students during a Mock Trial, or the Accounting student who gave me a thumbs up after getting a 100 on their test or the E-commerce students who thank me every day as they leave my class.  I guess it’s the little, good things that really seem big to me. But most of all I will miss the pride I hold for my students as they walk to the podium to receive their diplomas.” 

We wish Mrs. Horowitz a nice retirement. Her plans include to travel, go boating and fishing, play golf and tennis. She loves working on her gardens and tending to her koi, but most of all she wants to spend time with her new grandson.  

 The last words belong to Mrs. Horowitz. She said, “I wish you all farewell and thank you for making my years here at WHB memorable. Once a Hurricane, always a Hurricane!”