Teacher Earns Plaudits Even in Retirement
When Doris Quintilian retired last June, the Huntington High School math teacher went out at the top of her craft. She was hugely popular with her students and colleagues right to the end.
Now safely ensconced in retirement, the gifted educator is still earning plaudits. "Doris' last class of AP Calculus BC students made her and the entire Huntington High School community proud," said Marybeth Robinette, district director of mathematics and testing.
Mrs. Quintilian's students performed remarkably well on the AP Calculus exam, with 12 out of 13 teenagers earned double 5s on the difficult test last May. "This is an amazing accomplishment, not only reflecting on her, but on the entire math department," Mrs. Robinette said.
The AP Calculus exam is anything but easy, making the exceptional performance all the more special. "These students achieved so well because of the extremely dedicated teachers that they had throughout their Huntington careers, who got them to the level that allowed them to take Calculus BC and because of Mrs. Quintilian's hard work. Kudos to her and to all of these wonderful students."
Mrs. Quintilian was valedictorian of her graduating class at Copiague High School. She earned numerous honors through the years, including the Huntington Foundation's Spirit Award in 2009.
Called "the paragon of math teachers" by one colleague, Mrs. Quintilian was always surrounded by an aura of excellence. Her career spanned 36 years and more than 3,500 math students at the junior high and high school levels.
Mrs. Quintilian came to the district in September 1972 after graduating magna cum laude from SUNY Stony Brook with a B.S. degree in mathematics and English. She taught at J. Taylor Finley Junior High School through June 1989 when she moved to Huntington High School. Her honors range from being recognized for excellence by the Harvard Club of Long Island to being selected as the "Teacher of the Year" by Huntington's Class of 2007.
Her children, Joseph ('99) and Mary ('01) are both graduates of Huntington High School. Joseph currently owns a propriety commodity trading desk on the NYMEX and Mary is an associate at Goldman Sachs.