Locust Valley Intermediate School teacher Wendy Carswell is known for her forward-thinking and innovative approach to education. This year, she moved from the fourth grade to the fifth grade with most of her class from last year, where her familiarity with them will be a plus.
“For me, the most rewarding part of teaching is building a deep, authentic connection with my students and their families,” Carswell said. “When a family trusts you with their child’s growth, it creates a partnership that allows students to truly thrive both academically and personally.”
The 2025-2026 school year is the 16th in the district for Carswell, a North Shore lifer who was born and raised in nearby Cold Spring Harbor.
Carswell arrived in the district as a relatively new educator with experience as a reading specialist after a decade building a successful career as a financial consultant at Merrill Lynch. Throughout her years at Locust Valley, she has similarly built up an impressive teaching resume, integrating technology into her classroom to enhance her students’ experiences and adding a master’s degree in educational technology.
“I decided to go back to graduate school to get my master’s degree in childhood education and literacy to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children, much like the teachers who inspired me growing up,” Carswell said.
Carswell is always looking for new ways to keep students engaged, often utilizing project-based learning to get the information to students in innovative ways. In one of her favorite project-based lessons, Carswell tasked students in her science class with creating a video weather forecast explaining historical natural disasters, using a computer program called ‘Flipgrid.’ Her students leapt into their research and were excited to put together informative and hilarious videos.
“It just makes learning fun, interesting and engaging,” Carswell said. “I feel like if you give these kids the independence to do these projects, things come out of it that you don’t expect.”
Carswell’s work on similar projects and New York State’s Smart Start Grant Program, which seeks to share innovative programs and lessons, earned her an illustrious accolade last year, as she was named a Nassau Association of School Technologists Award recipient by Nassau BOCES NASTECH.
Outside of her classroom efforts, Carswell has also participated in district-wide curriculum writing for elementary core subjects, used her experience in finance to help coach the LVI math Olympiad team and mentored new members of the faculty as they began their careers in the classroom.