A former cartographer for The New York Times, Janet Norquist-Gonzalez of Norwood made maps for 22 years. Then one day, four years ago, “I noticed I was just staring at the screen,” she said. As a result of that revelation, Norquist-Gonzalez joined the ranks of career-changing professionals in the New York City Teaching Fellows program. The decision has since spawned several achievements, most recently the Teacher of the Year Award presented by the Bronx County Historical Society .

“It’s a great honor and recognition for all the hard work I’ve been putting in all these years,” said Norquist-Gonzalez.

She has taught social studies, geography and science at MS 180 in Co-op City, working with grades five through eight. Throughout, she has utilized the Historical Society’s resources. For Norquist-Gonzalez, the award symbolizes the “dynamic relationship between me, the students and the Bronx Historical Society.”

Last year, her students developed a graphic quilt of African-American history in the Bronx that was featured as part of the society’s Museum of Bronx History exhibit, “The Bronx African-American Experience.” This year, with the help of museum education coordinator Anthony Greene and county historian Lloyd Ultan, Norquist-Gonzalez is teaching students the history of Orchard Beach as they create a narrative map generated by geographic information system technology.

Norquist-Gonzalez’s own map of the Jerome-Gun Hill Business Improvement District won honorable mention in the 2002 annual map design competition of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, which now sits in the Library of Congress. As a teacher, she continues to integrate her mapping and technical skills into class activities. The mix focuses on the children’s learning experience, as opposed to “‘teaching to the tests’ which can discourage most teachers,” she says.

In return, her students have taught her to be strong. “You can’t be weak and survive in a Bronx middle school,” says Norquist-Gonzalez, who moved from Milwaukee to New York City in 1974. As a one-time resident in all the boroughs except Staten Island, she says, “The Bronx is my favorite and I will probably live here for the rest of my days.”

Of Swedish descent, Norquist-Gonzalez came to identify with Puerto Rican culture when she married her husband, Ibrahim Gonzalez, a radio producer and Latin jazz musician. A musician in her own right, Norquist-Gonzalez, enjoys playing the piano and also gardening. This summer she will travel to Mexico for a month to “live out of a tent, go hiking, and just get back to nature.”