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Vol. 31 No. 53
HERALD PERSON oF tHE YEAR Giana HorvatH
Bringing lessons in business to the classroom By Ainsley Martinez
Giana Horvath, a 29-year-old business teacher at East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School, started a recent day in her classroom at 9:35 a.m. with a bag of Starbursts in hand. Facing a class of students, she asked: “It was a ‘BRAT’ summer thanks to which pop star?” A few students popped their hands in the air, eager to answer. The correct answer: Charli XCX. Horvath tossed a pinkwrapped candy to the first student who got it right. She created the pop culture quiz as part of Fun Friday, one of the many ways in which she engages her students. “Being a young teacher is both a benefit and a challenge,” Horvath said. “It’s great in the sense that you can don’t want relate to them, especially being in business. I’m able to talk about the things students just with them that are on trend, or the things that they’re into, because it’s not to read about that far off from me.” business. I Her teaching style focuses on want them to hands-on learning and real-world applications. She created the school’s own experience it. version of “Shark Tank,” a reality TV GIANA HoRVAtH show on which budding entrepreneurs Business teacher, pitch their business ideas to a panel of East Rockaway Juniorwealthy investors in hopes of securing Senior High School funding. Horvath transformed the idea into a Food Truck Challenge, in which students create and pitch business ideas. Horvath said food trucks served as a foundation for students to build products off of. They not only learn business theory, but also put it into practice, developing products, marketing strategies and financial plans. She recruits fellow teachers to help judge — to be the sharks — on presentation day, when students pitch their ideas. Both students and teachers enjoy the experience — sometimes too much, Horvath said, laughing. The teachers “get really into it,” and ask questions as if the businesses are real — for instance, how much revenue a proposed company will earn per month. “I don’t want students just to read about business,” she said. “I want them to experience it.” Horvath, a 2017 graduate of Hofstra University, initially worked for Publishers Clearing House, but she realized that while her job was stable, it lacked personal fulfillment. “I kind of had this sadness, almost, of not being able to really make a difference in the job that I was in,” she recalled.
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North Middle School students organize toy drive Page 4
East Rockaway School District shares holiday joy Page 25
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She had an “aha moment” when she recognizing that teaching would allow her to make that difference. A friend’s experience in education, and the discovery of business education at Hofstra, pushed her to make the transition. “I want to do something that matters,” Horvath said. While completing her graduate studies at Hofstra, she was offered an internship certificate at East Rockaway JuniorSenior High School, which allowed her to skip student teaching and jump directly into a full-time job. The program, she explained, wasn’t common at the time, and she was one of a few students studying business education who went this route. Horvath started teaching in January 2020, just two months before the coronavirus pandemic forced schools to shift to remote learning. Despite that unprecedented challenge, she was offered a permanent position later that year, and has been at the school ever since. Her job doesn’t end at 3 p.m., Horvath said, because she is always working to improve the curriculum. Recently she applied for a grant for a stock ticker display, and received it from the Continued on page 2 Alice Moreno/Herald
East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School’s Giana Horvath teaches sports and entertainment marketing and other business electives, using innovative methods.