Newsweek, October 1, 2025
By Joseph Richard Preville
It is possible to shrink the world in a school. I know because I teach in one in Hopatcong, New Jersey. In September, I became an English teacher at Elite Preparatory Academy (EPA). Founded in 1971, EPA is a top ten private boarding school, enrolling one hundred students from a wide array of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Our gifted students and experienced staff come from Spain, China, Turkey, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Canada, and the United States. We are a small global family, rich in diversity, openness, and optimism.
I love to work in dynamic global settings. From 2005-2017, I was an English and Humanities professor at colleges and universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman and Afghanistan. The experience changed my life and outlook on the world. It gave me a global imagination. I now see the people on the map of the world. They are not abstractions or remote populations in faraway places. They are real people with stories to tell about life and death, love and loss, joy and sorrow, and hope and despair.
I chose to write the next chapter on my journey to understand the mosaic of the world in Hopatcong, New Jersey. It was a perfect choice because I am privileged to work with talented students from around the globe. Our school uses an innovative model to help students to become the sculptors of their own lives. We are inspired by the Renaissance genius of Michaelangelo, who liberated an incarcerated angel from a block of marble. Our students are artists, musicians, athletes, writers and scholars. They are the drivers of their talent, and we help them to shape it. It is amazing to watch them as they leap over their personal hurdles and sprint to success.
The core mission of our program is to reveal, inspire, shape, and empower (RISE). We measure student achievement in a holistic and humanistic way. Learning is our electricity; it illuminates everything we do. As a boarding school, EPA gives opportunities for students to grow and stretch themselves, wherever they are. We agree with the great American educator, John Dewey (1859-1952), who said: “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Learning how to get along and make friends, to lend a helping hand, to compromise, and to collaborate in athletics and clubs and in our dorms is just as important as chemistry and biology lessons in our classrooms. Everything is connected by the unbreakable string of friendship and learning in our diverse community. It is what unites us and bonds us together.
I am pleased to help our international students see how they are connected to the long and distinguished development of education in the United States. Boston Latin School, the oldest school in America, was founded on April 23, 1635. Four hundred years later, schools like ours around the country continue to carry out a vital mission to advance the cause of learning and service in society. Our students are now part of American history. They are included in the unfolding story of the United States.
I am proud to be a member of our global educational village in Hopatcong. Our community is driving in the right direction on the educational highway of the 21st century. We are committed to uniting people and lifting artificial partitions between them. It is our way of making the world a better place to live.
Joseph Richard Preville is an English teacher at Elite Preparatory Academy in Hopatcong, New Jersey. He was a professor and writer in the Middle East (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, and Afghanistan) from 2005-2017. His work has appeared in Newsweek, The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, San Francisco Chronicle, The Jerusalem Post, Saudi Gazette, Muscat Daily, and many others.