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John Holownia

Ward Melville High School science teacher Jenny Serigano was named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by The National Society of High School Scholars. She is photographed with Ward Melville High School Principal John Holownia. Photo courtesy of the Three Village Central School District

Ward Melville High School science teacher Jenny Serigano was recently named a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction by The National Society of High School Scholars. This prestigious honor recognizes educators, including teachers, administrators and counselors, who inspire their students to grow and develop as scholars, leaders and citizens.

Each year, student members of NSHSS are invited to nominate educators. The student who nominated Ms. Serigano said, “Ms. Serigano is a great teacher and really knows how to do her job. When I’m in her class, I feel like I am genuinely learning because of the way she organizes and demonstrates the topics in class. I feel that she does her job better than most teachers and she also has a real passion in teaching.”

The Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction program is named for NSHSS co-founder Claes Nobel, a member of the family that established the Nobel Prizes.  Those named Educators of Distinction can access special grant opportunities to attend professional conferences or pursue advanced degrees. Additionally, they move on to compete for the NSHSS Educator of the Year. 

New principal, John Holownia, in front of Ward Melville High School. Courtesy John Holownia

By Mallie Jane Kim

For Ward Melville High School’s new principal John Holownia, the first week of the 2024-25 school year has been a bit surreal — he grew up attending Three Village schools and graduated from Ward Melville in 1999. 

“It has been fantastic,” he said. “It’s not something I ever imagined when I was a high school student walking around the hallways.”

Holownia returns to his old stomping grounds after serving as an assistant principal at Shoreham-Wading River High School since 2019, and before that as a special education teacher in the Comsewogue school district.

It’s not his first time returning to his home turf, he said, as he coached football at Ward Melville for a few years as a young adult in the early 2000s after earning his bachelor’s degree in English literature from Princeton University. Returning mid-career as the high school principal, though, is a whole different ball game.

“My biggest priority right now is to just learn,” Holownia said, pointing to the high school’s reputation for excellence and his desire to keep it that way. “The most important thing I can do is learn how things work here and how things have been done in the past, and get a real feel for what has made Ward Melville such a successful place.” 

Holownia replaces acting principal Paul Gold, an assistant principal who stepped in last November after the previous principal, William Bernhard, was reassigned. Gold has since retired.

Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon, who was a social studies teacher at the high school during the years Holownia attended, said he looks forward to the new principal’s successful administration.

“John will be a tremendous asset to Ward Melville High School,” Scanlon said in an email.

Holownia is already thinking ahead to the structural changes the district has planned for 2025-26. The plan is for sixth grade to move up from the elementary schools into the junior high schools, and for ninth grade to move into Ward Melville, making it a four-year high school. 

District staff and administrators have been working out over the past year the adjustments and structural modifications necessary for the high school to accommodate adding an academic grade level.

“Certainly that’s going to need to be well-coordinated,” Holownia said. “We’ll be putting all those programs and things in place to make sure we’re ready for that change.”

But for now, he’s focused on acclimating to the current set of students under his purview. 

Three Village Board of Education officially appointed Holownia to his position April 3, and he’s been working in the building since July 1. He has enjoyed seeing staff and students filling the corridors after a quiet summer of preparation, he said. 

“The energy in the building really comes from the kids,” Holownia said. “It’s been exciting, and definitely a great start to the year.”