Medha Kirtane (1996)

Medha Kirtane, Ridgewood High School Class of 1996, is a distinguished educator and lifelong advocate for inclusive public education. She earned her B.A. from Williams College and a M.Ed. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 2023, Kirtane received the Ashby Award, the highest honor Ridgewood Public Schools can bestow on a faculty or staff member. In 2021, Kirtane was named New Jersey History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. She has also received the Merrill Presidential Scholar Secondary Teacher Award from Cornell University (2026), University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award (2018), British University Summer School Fellowship to Oxford University (2015), Princeton University Distinguished Teacher Award (2012) and Excellence in Teaching Award from Carleton College (2009). Teaching grants from the National Endowment of the Humanities and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and her esteemed colleagues have informed her teaching of U.S. History, Law and Senior Seminar at RHS.


As the former Head Coach of the Girls Tennis Program for a decade, Kirtane saw the team to four North I Group IV State Sectional Championships, was inducted into the “Century Club” for 100-plus wins and earned recognition as “Coach of the Year” in the County, League and Division.


Kirtane has also been the Faculty Advisory to numerous school clubs including the Asian Festival at Ridgewood, a role she was honored to carry forward after participating as a student when at R.H.S. Her greatest honor has been learning beside her students and watching them engage in compassionate action to better the world around them.

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