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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 15 June 2011

Created: 15 June 2011

Last Updated: 15 June 2011

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It’s not everyday that you meet a man who gave up a successful career as a commodities trader to become a teacher…especially a man who has a wife, three children and a house in Scarsdale. Even more surprising is his choice of schools … rather than opt to teach in a private school or suburban public school setting where children are well-behaved, directed and motivated, he took a job in a Manhattan public high school where kids have none of the advantages he has given his own three kids at home.

On the surface, Scarsdale’s Evan Meyers seems like many of the Scarsdale dads you’ll find on the train or the playing fields. After graduating from college in 1984, Meyers got his first job on the floor of the commodities exchange in Manhattan and ended up staying there for 17 years. In 1992, he took it one step further and launched his own trading firm, York Commodities, which, by 1999 had grown to be the biggest commodities firm on the COMEX. He loved the fast paced environment and thrived in a place that many find too stressful.

Despite his success, in 2001 he began to lose interest in the field and to consider a second career. He left the exchange and relocated his work to Scarsdale, joining a domestic hedge fund that operated out of Scarsdale Village. The move gave him time to bike, spend time with his kids and most importantly to mull over his next steps. Since he had grown up in a divorced family, he put a high value on time with his children and ended up coaching and eventually serving as President of the Scarsdale Little League.

During that time he also got involved with some charitable organizations including Facing History in Ourselves where he volunteered and eventually became a member of the Board. The group helps fight discrimination and bigotry in classrooms and communities, addressing issues like bullying, racism and injustice. His work with the group lead him to the realization that he wanted to be a teacher. He loved working with young people and sensed that he might have teaching in his blood as his father was a college math professor.

He toyed with the idea and after considerable thought decided to apply to Columbia Teacher’s College. Much to his surprise, he was admitted and from the moment he began the program he knew he was in the right place. His course work included student teaching and in the fall of 2008 he found himself teaching 25 students during the day and going to class in the afternoons and at night. After two summers and a full school year, Meyers had his Masters in Education and was ready to lead his own class. He found a position at a brand new public high school on Irving Place in Manhattan, where he was hired to teach Global History to ninth and tenth graders. He spent the next summer taking a course at Concordia to give him additional preparation to teach history and began work in September 2009.

The children he teaches are very different from his own. Meyers reports that some of the students in his class are “to varying degrees raising themselves.” Their parents are uninvolved, or don’t speak English and some of them work around the clock to support their families. With little help at home, some are not as academically prepared as students in Scarsdale and at the beginning of each year it is a challenge to get them to do their homework. He is amazed, he said, “at all that can happen to a student before 9 am,” and has visited some at home to see what they are up against. These home visits made him realize the impact he could have on their lives.

He has few discipline problems as the children respect him and he has been able to set up a very creative classroom. Without the benefit of textbooks or easy access to the Internet, Meyers has chosen to set up interactive experiences for his students, for example addressing medieval history by turning the classroom into a European feudal manor replete with lords, knights, and serfs, or studying ancient geography by re-creating a Greek city/state. Though his students are required to take the regents, he has been able to teach the curriculum his own way.

After his first year on the job, Meyers spent the summer thinking about ways he could offer his students opportunities beyond the classroom that are available to his own kids. He decided to start a community service club and was successful in involving a strong group of volunteers. During the year, kids worked at a soup kitchen serving AIDS patients and at the Angel Food Ministry where they provide food to the needy and sold bulk food at discounted prices. At POTS, (Part of the Solution) kids worked at a soup kitchen that had been converted into a restaurant where they served, wiped down tables and cleaned up. Most recently, the students organized a clothing drive and some travelled an hour on the subway to school carrying bags of used clothes.

Building on the success of the club, Meyers took it one step further. He had gone on a mission to New Orleans with his own daughter a few years ago to help with the Katrina clean up. Though it was ambitious, he decided to see if he could raise enough money to take a dedicated group of students to New Orleans on a similar trip. Using his contacts he was successful in finding a donor to finance the trip.

Eighteen of his most committed volunteers were selected to go on a trip that included a tour of the levies with an environmental group and painting houses with The Beacon of Hope. As a treat, they took a riverboat cruise. For just $14,000 he took the kids on the trip of a lifetime, and several were on a plane for the first time in their lives. While in New Orleans they studied the hurricane, what happened and why.

Back from the trip, and coming to the finish line of his second year of teaching, Meyers learned that the school’s community service club had been selected to receive an award from Mayor Bloomberg. Seeking to encourage service in the public schools, the Mayor has created a “Remarkable Growth in Service Award’ and Meyers and his students are the recipients of a $3,000 grant which will be used for photo and printing equipment for the club. They are set to go to Gracie Mansion on June 29th to receive the honor.

Now a veteran teacher, Meyer says he never regrets his decision to leave the financial world. What will the future hold? Meyers says he can’t be sure if this will be his last career, but for now he is enjoying working with young people and learning about their lives. He’s set to return to the Washington Irving campus next year where undoubtedly another group of fortunate teens will benefit from his guidance.

The Person of the Week Column is sponsored by Johnny Rockets, Home of the Original Hamburger, recently opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 777 White Plains Road in Scarsdale.