A well-respected Indiana high school teacher is being mourned by her community. After an unfortunate drowning incident. The tragedy is months removed from the instructor receiving the "Rookie Teacher of the Year" honor.
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Hannah Zweig and her brother Yosef, 18, drowned in Lake Michigan. During a family trip earlier in August, according to a report from WNDU. Zweig was a 21-year-old life skills teacher at John Adams High School in South Bend. The tragedy is months removed from the instructor receiving the "Rookie Teacher of the Year" honor.
Beloved Teacher Dead After Tragic Drowning Incident
John Adams High confirmed Zweig's passing in a heartfelt social media post. Principal James Seitz praised the late instructor for the strong bonds that she built with her students.
"She built positive relationships with all of her students. And always worked to find ways for them to have success," Seitz wrote in a release via the school's Facebook page.
"Most importantly, she was a friend to everyone she encountered. She always saw the best in people. And made everyone around her better because of her hard work and positive attitude."
The principal also told WNDU that from the time that Zeig applied for the job, he saw the "compassion that she had for young people, especially young people with special needs."
Zeig's brother Yosef was also reportedly developmentally disabled.
After she received the "Rookie Teacher of the Year" award from her community back in April, her selflessness was still on display. She praised her colleagues for the "support" she received as a first-year teacher.
"I'm grateful for the support of my colleagues. The encouragement from leadership. And the opportunity to work with such inspiring students each day," she wrote on her LinkedIn page (via The New York Post).
She also said that the lessons she learned in her rookie year were something that college could never have prepared her for.
"[It] challenged me, pushed me out of my comfort zone, and taught me lessons that no college course ever could."
"So teaching has reminded me that success isn't measured only by academic progress. But by the connections we build, the confidence we help create. And the small moments that make a lasting impact," Zweig said.
