Westport Teachers Take Over Times Square

Over the course of a career, one teacher can impact thousands of lives.

If a teacher is lucky, years later a few former students may thank him or her for that positive influence.

If that teacher is really lucky, one of those former students may work for McGraw Hill. And choose that teacher’s name for an enormous Times Square “thank you” billboard, where millions of people can see it.

Carson Einarsen is part of the team that conceived and executed the project. And thanks to him, several Staples High School educators are really, really lucky.

Carson Einarsen (foreground), and the McGraw Hill billboard …

To fill out some empty space, Carson — a 2012 SHS graduate — added the names of 6 Westport educators who played a role in getting him where he is today.

Where he is — after studying film and TV at Savannah College of Art & Design — is part of Glass & Marker, a creative video agency.

They specialize in companies going public, replacing tired old road shows with compelling videos.

For a newly public firm, the New York Stock Exchange offers space online, in the Wall Street building — and on 2 ginormous Times Square screens.

When McGraw Hill hired the firm, they wanted something more than just graphics and visuals on those screens.

Carson’s team had a brainstorm. McGraw Hill provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators. What if — instead of touting the company itself — they used that space to thank teachers?

And what better way to say “thanks” than by using actual, real names?

… and Carson’s close-up.

Top executives loved the idea. They asked everyone in the firm to submit 1 or 2 teachers to thank.

The result — besides being the most commented-on internal post in McGraw Hill’s history — was 874 names.

Carson and his colleagues designed the graphics, and organized the columns. When space became available at the end, he was ready with his own Westport list.

Carson chose:

• Bill Derry, Greens Farms Elementary School library media coordinator
• John Dodig, Staples High principal
• Camille Eskell, Staples High art teacher
• Anne Pfeiffer, Carson’s sister Mari’s Greens Farms Elementary teacher
• Kerstin Warner Rao, Bedford Middle School workshop teacher
• Christine Richardson, Staples High English teacher.

But wait! There’s more!

Andrew Fishman added a name. Maggie Gomez — hia Staples math teacher — is honored at Times Square too.

5 educators’ names are on the left column.

One of the billboards ran for half an hour last week.

The other runs once an hour. It debuted last week, and will rotate through over the next few week.

Both are on the north side of Times Square — near the bleachers — near 7th Avenue and 47th Street.

“Some companies going public celebrate a financial goal, or reaching a milestone,” Carson notes.

“McGraw Hill is an educational company. For them, celebrating others worked well. It distilled the core of what they do: making teachers’ lives better, so they can better serve students.”

At the same time, the billboards show the public that the company is about more than textbooks. They’ve moved into digital technology in education.

But the heart of education remains teachers.

Each of McGraw Hill’s hundreds of employees had at least one who made a difference. Even the CEO contributed a name.

But only Carson Einarsen included 6 of Westport’s best.

(Congratulations to all our teachers. But why limit this to Times Square? If an educator has impacted your life — in Westport or elsewhere — click “Comments” below. Let’s add many more to the list!)

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