Howard Cohen Keeps His Passion Going at Upper Moreland

Howard Cohen is beginning his 34th year as a school psychologist at . 

It’s not impossible to believe he has the energy to go another 34 years. 

Cohen has been a fixture at Upper Moreland and said he has no plans to retire anytime soon. His love for his job has remained intact for 34 years, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

“It’s a fascinating job,” said Cohen. “You have to stay sharp, and you have to stay on your feet. I don’t know if retirement would allow me to do that. It’s always a challenging job.”

Cohen realizes the impact he is making on the students at Upper Moreland. He is not only flattered to see his former students in their adult lives, but also their children who are now attending Upper Moreland.

“It’s the interactions with the kids and the relationship with them over the years,” Cohen said. “There’s also the relationship with the parents and the second generation. Seeing kids I had come through and then seeing them come through with their children has been fun, too.”

Cohen has also been the driving force behind the school’s . He has been working with the organization for 23 years.

It took a Wally Pipp-Lou Gehrig scenario to allow him to take over the club.

“The Key Club advisor before me was a physics teacher,” said Cohen.  “He decided he wanted a year sabbatical from it. He asked me to take it from him, and he never got it back.”

The Key Club is the student community service link to Kiwanis. The Key Club at Upper Moreland is sponsored by . 

The club is involved in a host of programs such as blood drives, food drives, Special Olympics activities and a group called “Bear Buddies” that works with disabled youngsters. There is also a “Lose the Wheels” organization where the Key Club members help disabled children ride bicycles without training wheels.

“The kids are involved in a vast variety of community service activities,” Cohen said. “There is a really wide variety of school-based and community-based service activities the kids do. The kids love to be involved in the community activities, and they love to work with other students.”

Working with community and school projects can be quite rewarding for students. It is equally rewarding for Cohen, who not only serves as a supervisor, but also as a participant.

“I get as much out of what I do with the kids as the kids do,” said Cohen. “I’m very hands-on with their projects. There are very few we do that I also don’t get involved in. I like that, and I have fun with that. I enjoy the relationship with the kids.”

Cohen believes it will be a long time before he steps down as advisor to the Key Club. Cohen also hasn’t set a timetable to retire from his job as a psychologist at the school. He believes he will feel little satisfaction sitting around in retirement when he still has much to offer to the students at Upper Moreland High School.

“I’ve got a couple of years left at least,” Cohen said. "I don’t feel like I’m as ancient with my experience as I should be.”