Barry Bienstock retires after 41 years

ching today,” Berenson said.

Bienstock also encouraged Jacobs to approach history differently. “History is an argument we make about why the past unfolded the way it did and Barry taught me that,” Jacobs said. Professor Jacobs moved from Princeton to NYC so that her children could have Bienstock as a teacher, she said. “I visited Barry’s classroom and I saw, now through the lens of a parent, what all these years later he was still doing,” she said. “It was and is amazing and I thought ‘this is how I want my kids to learn.’”

Despite the seriousness of the content in Bienstock’s class, Leonhardt also remembers laughing in AP American history about the TV show LA Law which aired on Thursday night at 10:00pm with his teacher, he said. “It was clear he was addicted to La Law which was kind of like a soap opera, so we would expect a good ten or fifteen minute recap/gossip session of what happened on LA law on friday during class.” Bienstock, a great teacher and scholar, just enjoying this dramatic and juicy TV show opened up the class environment, he said.

Even in expressing the importance of history

Bienstock is able to keep a funny and interactive environment, Yasmeen Masoud (11) said. “ He’s always cracking jokes and telling us about his past students, and he makes his classroom very welcoming and comfortable.” But this doesn’t mean his class isn’t serious and productive. “I think he makes it a point to bring to light history that frequently gets glossed over or white washed in most historical texts,” Masoud said. “His class has taught me how to discuss history in a productive and analytical way.”

Through facilitating fascinating class discussions which allowed the students to explore topics they are passionate about, Bienstock’s Contemporary U.S. History class this year changed Laine Goldma cher’s (11) opinion history, she said. “The best part of having Mr. Biens tock as a teacher is getting to learn from someone who is so passio nate and know ledgeable about the subject mat ter.”

Bienstock challenged Lawson Wright (12) to be a better historian and expand his views, Wright said. “He seems to really enjoy being here and engaging in meaningful conversations about our country‘s his tory and its impact on the present.” Throughout writing his year-long history paper, Bienstock has been very supportive, he said. “He is super gene rous with his time. He pointed me in the di rection of a lot of really rich secondary source material that I would not have otherwise known about.”

Likewise, in Vast Early America, Nolan Wallace (11) found Bienstock’s passion for learning new perspectives eye opening, he said. “I think all the students in his Vast Early America class are going to arrive at their next history class with a more in formed understanding of America, and that’s be cause of him.”

Bienstock’s supportive nature towards his stu dents is easily noticed by others. Always willing to help his students, there are countless times Biens tock would stop by the classroom or pick up the phone to offer his support, Kelly wrote. “Whether it be a laptop, eyeglasses, an internship, heat in the home, clothing, tutoring, food over an extended break, summer camp or a graphing calculator, Barry always knew to advocate for his students as soon as an essential need wasn‘t being met; he‘s our very own mensch!”

Even years after they graduate, Bienstock remains a motivator for his students. Bienstock modeled diligence, preparation, care for his students, and how to pursue one’s interests in addition to how one should always have many interests, Lerner said. “He continued to serve as a willing mentor long after I left high school, including several weeks ago. I am touched by that kindness.” successful especially in the field of history, is very rewarding for Bienstock, he said. “In some ways, it‘s what teaching is all about, the ability to pass down information to another generation.”

Not only is it great to keep in touch, he said, but in some cases he finds pride in being able to read books published by his former students including Meg Jacobs, Marc Lerner, Angie Chung ‘91, Eric Nelson ‘95, Emily Straus, and Walter Cronkite IV ‘07, Bienstock said. Although he is not a historian, New York Times senior writer David Leonhardt ‘90 also stays in touch with Bienstock and has a book coming out this fall. “Leonhardt sent me the manuscript a few months ago, so I got to have an early preview of it,” Bienstock said. He also dined at former student Alex Guarnaschelli‘s ‘87 restaurant Butter, and used her cookbook, The Home Cook.

A familiar face from his first year teaching at the school, Kassel, was thrilled to reunite with her AP American history teacher. Part of why she came to work at the school was to teach with her teachers, she said. “You can have the most impressive new buildings and fanciest gadgets— but it is the intellectual foundation that Mr. Bienstock inspired in each of us that will ultimately prevail.”

Berenson also had wwto adjust to working with his former teacher. “He’s incredibly helpful, giving and thoughtful as a colleague, and he knows more than anybody in our department about US history, which is saying something,” Berenson said.

CRAE was not the only class that Bienstock cotaught. Alongside Schiller, Bienstock led Interdisciplinary Studies which was about the US in a global context, reading both historical documents and fiction, Schiller said. “Mr. Bienstock has had a supportive and challenging impact on his students.” Bienstock relates to the students because of his big heart, Schiller said. “He loves them and wants them to understand and appreciate US history in all of its contradictions and complexities.”

History and in 12th grade for African American history and an interdisciplinary seminar which Bienstock co-taught with former Head of the UD Dr. David Schiller. He even wrote Straus’ teacher recommendation for college, she said. “We kept in touch and then I became a teacher right out of college and he would send me materials for classes and stuff.”

When Straus applied for graduate school, she remembers sending Bienstock her statement of intent. “He was like, this is not what this is supposed to be, and I remember him giving me feedback on it,” she said. Later, the two would often see each other at professional conferences, she said. “He was always just like a cheerleader for me.”

Bienstock loves seeing and corresponding with his former students. “I remember there were former students where we would simply exchange letters, or in terms of history,

But Bienstock’s support for his colleagues is not limited to his former students. For Dean of the Class of 2025 and history teacher Dr. Susan Groppi, Bienstock served as a mentor and role model, she said. “He helped me translate what I knew from teaching at the college level to teaching smart younger students.” As a teacher, seeing someone who, for decades of his career, continued to be innovative in his classes and push new material, was inspiring, she said. “The idea that I can always be innovating and engaged like he was had a huge impact on me.”

In 2001, Straus compiled 18 letters from former students, some colleagues, and a few parents, to write on Beinstock’s behalf and nominate him for The American Historical Association‘s Nancy Roelker Mentorship Award, Bienstock said. The award “honors teachers of history who taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives,” a fitting award for Bienstock. “It is a blind submission, so I didn‘t know that my name had been submitted,” he said. Bienstock was the second ever high school teacher to receive the award. After his retirement, Bienstock plans to fill his days by working on writing his book that is tentatively titled Suffering in Silence: Stories of Indigenous Boarding School Lives Lived and Lost in the United States and Canada, he said. “I plan to spend this summer researching,” he said. “That‘ll involve some traveling to archives and some interviews.” Since he won’t be limited by the school schedule, this fall he can continue to pursue his research, he said.

Bienstock can’t think of a more rewarding experience than teaching at the school, he said. “Each year I‘ve been enriched by the many students that I‘ve been privileged to teach. It‘s the students that provide the heartbeat of intellectual life at the hig-

A few years after receiving her Ph.D, Straus asked Bienstock if there were any positions open at HM and that year she and Dr. Bales joined HM’s incredible history department. “What‘s funny is that we share an office, so I had to move from calling him Mr. Bienstock when he was always Mr. Bienstock, and now he‘s Barry,” Straus said. For five hest level,” he said. “Dr. Straus guesses that I‘ve taught a couple of thousand students in my forty-one years. I‘d like to thank them, and hope that they left my classroom with some love for a subject that means a great deal to me.”