Goodbye Mr. Ludwig

At the end of this month, Mr. Ludwig is retiring. After over thirty years in the district as a teacher, AV conductor, guidance counselor and now the head of guidance, his tenure at CPHS is coming to an end. Whenever a person has shown such commitment to their profession, we need to appreciate their service whether they were chefs, police officers or businessmen, but it is different when it’s an educator. How many hundreds of students were influenced by Mr. Ludwig to go into an English profession? How many did he guide to a college or program where they discovered their true potential?

Eight years ago, Mr. Ludwig became the director of the guidance department.Perhaps you’re asking yourself whether or not you know him. Perhaps you haven’t met him directly, but he does a lot to keep the school running by setting up testing, managing dual enrollment and helping your counselors do their best for you.

Ms. Lupica was one of his students in 1995. She says that he used to give them the vocabulary list from Reader’s Digest magazine, which she still reads today. Mr. Ludwig is one of the reasons she became an English teacher because of the relationships she saw him build with his students and the way he inspired them to do their best.

Mrs. Donato Jennings had Mr. Ludwig’s class when she was a senior in high school. To her, Mr. Ludwig’s class was always a place of comfort. She recalls how much students were impressed by and thankful for the way he treated them with respect even though they were teenagers. Mrs. Donato-Jennings also credits Mr. Ludwig with introducing her to the singer Bob Dylan for which she is “eternally grateful”.

Mrs. Romano vividly recalls acting out plays in Mr. Ludwig’s class in high school including The Glass Menagerie. He stood out as a teacher for her because he always found a way to “make things fun and different from the rest" of her classes.

Ms. Asto, our new math teacher, notes all the help he gave her as a guidance counselor. She can’t remember a time when she needed assistance and didn’t receive it as she tried to determine where to go to school and needed help preparing her schedule and college applications to reach her goals.

Dr. Meier says Mr. Ludwig has a "great sense of humor, patience, kindness, and understanding. We all have challenging days in our lives. Regardless, Mr. Ludwig has always helped me and my colleagues and I wish him a wonderful retirement."

On behalf of the Cliffside Park High School students and staff, we would like to thank Mr. Ludwig for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in his retirement!