If you walk past Room 108 and hear a groan followed by a ripple of laughs, you’ve likely just witnessed a legendary Moreng joke. Whether he’s riffing on shiitake mushrooms or waiting for a small “cricket” to punctuate the silence after a punchline, Mr. Moreng has spent over three decades at our school. He’s proved that math doesn’t have to be a wave of horror—even if AP Calculus pacing occasionally is.
As he prepares to trade his faded whiteboard markers and absurdly large stack of 2B pencils for a boarding pass, we sat down with him to reflect on his career at THS.
After 31 years of dedicated service to Tenafly, Moreng is ready to solve for a new variable: total relaxation. His first order of business? Dodging the frigid East Coast winters he’s come to despise. Officially embracing his new life as a “snowbird,” he plans to split his time between Bergen County’s warmer seasons and his home in Florida, ensuring he never has to face a snow day ever again.
But don’t expect him to stay stationary for long. Moreng’s curiosity is constantly driving him towards new places, and he’s wasting no time getting started. In fact, on the very day school ends, he’ll trade his classroom for the deck of a 10-day Alaskan cruise expedition. From there, he plans to hit the road for a tour of the National Parks.
When he isn’t navigating road trips, Moreng will be leaning more into his favorite pastimes: bowling, strumming his guitar, and tackling the daily Wordle or Connections puzzles.
Above all, this next chapter in his life is about the people who matter most. Mr. Moreng spoke with a deep affection for his father, and he plans to spend much of his retirement traveling wherever his father wishes to go.
Moreng’s journey into math began with a simple, sweet realization: he loved the subject from day one. While many of us view math as a chore to be avoided, he treated his homework as the highlight of his afternoon, often finishing it as soon as he got it home. His passion started in a first-grade classroom, where a clever teacher used candy to teach addition and subtraction. “Three M&Ms plus two M&Ms… I thought, ‘Math is the best thing ever,’” he recalls. Naturally, his enthusiasm was fueled by a very relatable incentive: those M&Ms were his to snack on after solving the problem.
Believe it or not, Moreng didn’t leave Vanderbilt with a degree in teaching. In reality, he didn’t even know he wanted to teach until a year after graduating from college.
After college, it took a favor to spark his “lightbulb moment.” His younger brother’s friend asked for math tutoring. Of course, Moreng was more than happy to help, and soon started his own tutoring company, Academic Advantage. Although this organization is no longer active, his experiences there eventually led him to the halls here at THS, where he has been dedicating 110% ever since.
For years, Moreng has been the Hawaiian-shirted commander of an army of AP Calculus soldiers—a course he has described as a “race” against snow days and fire drills. “It’s demanding for both the teachers and the students,” he said. “But seeing those 4s and 5s, and watching seniors beat senioritis to reach that incredibly high bar? It’s extremely rewarding.”
In recent years, a new favorite emerged: Personal Financial Literacy (PFL). “It might be one of my favorite courses I’ve ever taught,” he said. While the semester-long course meets during lunch, students have learned that their meals come with a side of critique; Moreng is known for his comical, deadpan stares at the DoorDash bags sitting on desks, wordlessly marking them as financially unsound.
According to Moreng, solving math problems “trains the brain’s neural pathways,” while PFL offers glimpses of real-world survival–insurance, budgeting, and investing. For him, teaching students how to manage their futures is just as vital as solving cross-sections or derivatives.
When asked about his favorite memories, Moreng’s mind went straight to the Class of 2003. As their advisor for four years, he watched them grow from freshmen to accomplished graduates. The highlight? Winning THS Olympics during both their junior and senior years, which is an incredibly rare feat. “Proper leadership,” he said with a competitive wink.
That competitive streak isn’t just for the Olympics, though; it’s also for THS’s Teacher Walk-a-Thons. To carry his team, which had been lagging behind in the leaderboard, Moreng walked over 20,000 steps in a single day. His dedication to walking comes from his now 84-year-old father, who would famously walk more than ten miles to meet the family for Sunday dinner each week. “I love being outside to clear my head,” Moreng said. “It makes me more effective when I come back into the building.”
His mission wasn’t just to teach formulas; it was to give back to the students and the community. And that he did. As he prepares for his final trip out of the THS parking lot, he leaves behind a legacy of humor and practical wisdom for us to carry on. Whether he’s driving to Florida or hiking in a canyon, we have no doubt he will keep moving forward—likely walking at a very brisk, Walk-a-Thon winning pace.
Mr. Moreng, congratulations, and thank you so much for your years of hard work, your passion for teaching, and the difference you have made in so many lives!
We hope your retirement is as sweet as those first-grade M&Ms.
