Our Alumni

List of 11 items.

• + Agnes Gund TTC '61

  Currently: Founder and Trustee of Studio in a School, a nonprofit that pairs professional artists with underserved public schools in New York City.  Impact: Studio in a School has reached over 1 million students in New York City since its inception 43 years ago. It also partners with the NYC school system in development of age-appropriate standards for art instruction and offers professional development for classroom teachers in visual-arts instruction and integration of the arts into overall curricula.

  
  

  Back in 1960 when I enrolled in the TTC, I never dreamed how that foundation would serve me. For the next two years, I taught at Shady Hill, mentored by the wonderful Jane Prescott. My circuitous path over the following decade landed me back in New York in 1977, where I founded Studio in a School, a nonprofit addressing the cuts to arts education in NYC public schools. It pairs professional artists with underserved public schools and has been going strong for 43 years. 

   

  Currently, we reach 32,000 NYC public school students a year, across all boroughs. This adds up to over 1 million students since Studio in a School‘s inception. Our model stresses long-term partnerships between the artists and the schools to which they are assigned; artists make commitments ranging from six weeks to several years. Studio in a School has also become a partner to the NYC school system, collaborating to develop age-appropriate standards for art instruction. And last but far from least, we offer professional development for classroom teachers in visual-arts instruction and integration of the arts into overall curricula. This teacher training component reaches well beyond the NYC public system; we have been invited to collaborate in cities across the country and internationally.

   

  My 25 years on the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) Board, including 11 years as its president, are what many people know me for. But to be honest, I am at least as proud of my work with Studio in a School. Teaching children how to think like an artist—to observe closely, solve problems, and reflect on their process—is profoundly important to their prospects as students and to their lives outside school. I never tire of seeing young people unleash their curiosity, persist through challenges, and discover they can surpass their own expectations. You might well say, “How very Shady Hill!”

• + Anne McCormack TTC '65

  Currently: Serves on the Board of Partners In Health and is the Board Chair of Summits Education, a network of 40 schools in the Central Plateau of Haiti. Impact: Summits Education currently serves 10,000 students. TTC experience informs Anne’s work, so it is no coincidence that Summits and Shady Hill share a markedly similar mission and philosophy. Summits works in collaboration with local communities to support a curriculum that is teacher guided and student focused. Its teachers complete 150 hours of training and work under the supervision of a cohort of master teachers and supervisors.

   

  Thirty-four years ago, I was teaching Colonial America to Shady Hill seventh-graders. As part of a fundraising read-a-thon, my class read hundreds of books in one month to support Partners In Health (PIH).As a fairly new teacher and recent graduate of the TTC, supporting PIH was an early lesson in the power of efficacy. The chance to make a difference—to have an impact—is not only a great motivator, but it is also critical to students’ growth and understanding of their position in the world and their personal and shared responsibility for making it a better place. Those 12-year-olds realized that, although young, they indeed could make a difference.

  
  

  In a similar spirit, PIH was founded by a small group of people that included my husband Todd and his best friend Dr. Paul Farmer. It was built on the audacious belief that healthcare is a human right, and that even the poorest people in the world deserve the best care possible.Less well known is the fact that for over three decades, PIH has supported a network of 40 schools in the Central Plateau of Haiti. While I am a long-time trustee of PIH, Summits Education, as this network is known, has now become the central focus of my work in Haiti.

  
  

  On the surface, Summits and Shady Hill are completely different. Summits schools have no computers, no playgrounds, and often no walls. But on closer examination, Summits is in many ways a kindred spirit, with a markedly similar mission and philosophy. Carrying forth the legacy of PIH, Summits believes in the right of every child, even the most underserved, to receive a quality education. Like Shady Hill, Summits schools were born of a need for a different approach to schooling, one that addresses the development of the whole child, and that values teachers and their training, an uncommon approach in Haiti, where the education system is sorely broken. Fewer than 30% of Haitians reach sixth grade, and the country’s literacy rate is 53%. 

  
  

  Haiti’s abject poverty should leave little energy for building a progressive education system, especially when mere survival is at risk. And yet, I have seen students hike for four hours—one way—just to come to school! I’ve seen a fourth-grader carry his baby sister with him to school because he was in charge of her that day and didn’t want to skip class. I’ve known teachers who didn’t miss a single day of teaching even when they hadn’t seen a paycheck in months. I’ve seen schools erected by communities who carried building materials on their backs because no roads existed. These are the Haitians who make up the Summits community. 

  
  

  In 2015, Summits Education achieved 501(c)3 status, and it has made remarkable strides. We now serve 10,000 students, most from families living on less than $2 a day. Like Shady Hill, Summits understands that excellent teachers beget an excellent education. As a mother of three Shady Hill graduates, I am forever grateful for the heartfelt dedication and talent of their teachers, and I want nothing less for children in Haiti. We work in collaboration with the local communities to support a curriculum that is teacher guided and student focused. Summits teachers complete 150 hours of training and work under the supervision of a cohort of master teachers and supervisors. Sound familiar?

  
  

  The results speak to the important work we do at Summits: increased attendance rates; the high scores students achieve on national assessments; the interest of our teachers in further training; and the Haitian government’s recognition of Summits as the leader of their Model School Network, setting examples and proving concepts for the rest of Haiti’s schools. But I believe our greatest achievement is in providing our students with a sense of their own agency in controlling their future and that of their communities and country. We believe education is a human right. Without education, prospects for Haitian children are dismal. Without education, a generation of Haitians will fail to rise above their limiting circumstances, and the cycle of poverty that plagues the country has little chance of being broken. Every school day, thousands of children quite literally climb the mountains of Haiti to seek an education and a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities. Our students may not be reading hundreds of books this month but by going to school, they are making a difference and certainly working to make their world a better place. It is a remarkable thing to witness, made all the more meaningful when I consider that the roots of this work reach all the way back to the TTC and Shady Hill. 

  
  

  Anne (Thomas) McCormack and her husband, Todd McCormack, graduated from the TTC in 1985, and their three children are Shady Hill alums: Chris ‘05, Katie ’07 TTC ‘16, and Hannah ‘09. 

• + Ben Holmes TTC '88

  Currently: Founder, The Farm School, Athol, MA  Impact: Each week, the Farm School welcomes new groups of middle-schoolers, seeing over 1,500 students annually. Our program connects kids to the land by having them tend the forests, fields, gardens, and animals. We also run a one-room middle school for local kids, providing our under-resourced community a progressive schooling alternative. Several years ago, we launched a program for adults focused on the farming skills that have disappeared with the demise of the family farm.

  
  

  I am the founder of The Farm School in Athol, MA, where I have been for the past 31 years. The Farm School provides programs for children and adults that connect them to the land. Each day, the staff and I are learning, deepening our understanding of community and how to open people to beauty and possibility. 

   

  Twice a week, every week, we welcome a new group of middle-school students, seeing over 1,500 kids each year. Over three days, they work with our staff, tending the forests, fields, gardens, and farm animals. We also founded a one-room middle school for local kids. It provides our local, under-resourced community with a progressive alternative for schooling and gives our staff opportunities for long-term relationships with students. Several years ago, our work expanded to include farmer-training for adults, much-needed skills that disappeared with the demise of the family farm. Our model follows that of the TTC: just as the only way you can learn to teach is by teaching, the only way you can learn to farm is by farming.

   

  I came to the TTC directly from my family’s farm with a strong desire to learn how to serve a larger community of children and adults. My amazing directing teachers, Althea Cranston and Todd Nelson, created a context that built my confidence in leading groups of kids and communicating with groups of adults. This confidence was central to my being able to even imagine starting and then leading The Farm School, a place very much for kids held in a community of adults. I felt similarly held in my TTC experience. The TTC is a guiding light for how teachers should be trained. 

• + Koyen Parikh Shah TTC '95

  Currently: Director, Aspire Program, Hathaway Brown School, Cleveland, OH  Impact: In 2002, I launched The Aspire Program, a program that helps girls build stronger pathways to college and become the first in their family to attend. Aspire also provides interns with an introduction to the teaching field through a structure that is patterned after the TTC.

  
  The foundation I built as an apprentice at Shady Hill has informed countless aspects of my work at the Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland over the past two decades. Central Subjects, essential questions, and teaching teams designed to nurture reflective practice all figure prominently in my work. I have been using these signature Shady Hill strategies in programming designed for girls and women, in particular. Hathaway Brown is an all-girls school where students are offered unparalleled opportunities that lead them to better navigate a complex world.

   

  In 2002, I launched The Aspire Program at Hathaway Brown, a program that helps girls build stronger pathways to college and become the first in their family to attend. Aspire also provides interns with an introduction to the teaching field through a structure that is patterned after the TTC. All interns are mentored by experienced classroom teachers. Camille Seals TTC ‘09 directed the program for nearly a decade. 

   

  An underappreciated multiplier of the TTC’s impact is the way TTC alums forge connections and build networks. Ours is one of the 21 schools hosting teaching fellows from UPenn’s Independent School Teaching Residency program, co-directed by Charlotte Jacobs TTC ’06. These relationships connect alums to other great schools, broaden a culture of reflective teaching, and build hiring pipelines that expand access.

   

  The Center for Leadership and Well-Being, another Hathaway Brown program I helped establish, presents essential questions the way a Central Subject brings forward interdisciplinary themes with multiple entry points and energizing connections. My experience with Central Subject as a TTC apprentice informed key aspects of the Center. As an advisor to educational initiatives through organizations such as the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Schools Book Fund, Facing History and Ourselves, Books@Work, and The Jennings Foundation, I find myself continually tapping foundational lessons I learned as a TTC apprentice.

• + Dr. Jennifer Chung TTC ’98 

  Currently: Senior Lecturer, Education and Social Sciences at St Mary’s University, London  Impact: Since 2009, I have been a professor in the UK, teaching a wide variety of topics at the undergraduate and graduate levels. My current research focuses on how teacher education, an interest stemming from my positive experience in the TTC. Through my teaching, research, and publishing, I hope to positively influence education policy and reform.

  
  

  Without a doubt, the TTC helped launch my career. After graduating in 1998, I taught for four years in the US and since 2009, I have been a professor in the UK. I taught in Liverpool for two years, mainly Education Studies and Early Childhood Studies courses. Now, I teach a wide variety of topics at St. Mary's University in London at the undergraduate and graduate levels within the Education and Social Sciences (BA) and Education, Culture, and Society (MA) programs. In some of my courses, we look at elementary and early-childhood education, covering play, forest schools, and the impact that early-years care and education have on society. These subjects closely align with topics we explored as apprentices at Shady Hill.

   

  My current research focuses on teacher education in Finland and how it compares with teacher education elsewhere in the world. This interest stems from my positive experience in the TTC. The teacher-training schools in Finland are reminiscent of lab schools in North America, and more specifically, of Shady Hill's TTC. For my doctorate, I researched why Finland scores so highly in PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). There are many reasons, mainly sociocultural, but the high quality of Finnish teachers is a salient finding. As my main research interests are in comparative education and comparative teacher education, I would someday love to research Shady Hill's TTC.

   

  This past July, I published a book based on my doctoral research, and I have received a grant to investigate the teacher-training schools in Finland. I should (fingers crossed!) have a book published on this subject later in 2020. When I consider the trajectory of my teaching and research career, I can clearly see the TTC’s influence. Through my teaching, research, and publishing, I hope to positively influence education policy and reform.

• + Abby Sommerfeld TTC '04

  Currently: Academic and Family Coach, San Francisco, CA   Impact: As my teaching career unfolded, I saw both the need for, and the positive impact of, individualized support in one-on-one settings where students feel seen, heard, and safe. This realization prompted me to leave the classroom and start an academic and family coaching practice.

  
  If you had told my bright-eyed, 24-year-old apprentice self that I would one day leave the classroom and become a life coach, I may not have believed you. I knew the TTC offered unparalleled training, a community steeped in a rich pedagogical legacy, and the preparation to carry that legacy forward. What I couldn’t know was how my career would evolve and the ways in which my TTC experience would inform and impact the directions it would take. 

   

  Upon graduating from the TTC in 2004, I was looking for adventure. I ended up teaching in a small school started by Jenny Freeman TTC ’00 on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera. There, I expanded my toolkit, grew as an educator, and even met my future husband Chris, Shady Hill Class of ‘96. My next stop was Hillbrook School, nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. At the helm was Sarah Bayne, an ex-SHS gradehead. Not a decade out, I had SHS to thank for my most formative experiences in the classroom, my first mentors, and my husband. 

   

  As my teaching career unfolded, I saw both the need for, and the positive impact of, individualized support in one-on-one settings where students feel seen, heard, and safe. This realization prompted me to leave the classroom and start an academic and family coaching practice. My practice supports parents, children, and families in connecting and aligning with one another and with their values. My work, which also includes teaching and writing, draws on many elements: my TTC training, years as an educator, work leading groups and teams, formal training as a life coach, and experience as a parent. Looking back, I see how all these components are building blocks, each scaffolding the next. At the base of it all is Shady Hill and the TTC: home to my earliest mentors, springboard for my most formative teaching experiences, and the foundation of my career.

   

• + Sean Hamer TTC' 05

  Currently: Head of School, Alta Vista School, San Francisco, CA TTC Advisory Board 2019–21  Impact: I am interested in expanding the accessibility of programs focused specifically on leadership in independent and charter schools. I am invested in finding ways to expand educators’ opportunities to align them with the vision, mission, and methodology of the TTC.

  
  My TTC experience was pivotal in shifting the vision I had for myself as a classroom teacher to working at an institutional scale. Many things contributed to this transformation. First were the rich conversations we had as a TTC cohort, which was remarkably diverse, reflected a broad age range, and hailed from urban, suburban, and rural settings. Then, there were numerous in-depth conversations with faculty and administrators over lunch and in their offices. I learned about their journeys and developed a better understanding of mission-driven school leadership.

   

  In my cohort, I was selected as that year’s TTC Urban Teaching Fellow, which placed me in a Cambridge public school for my spring term. Seeing different schools with different approaches opened me to a diversity of ideas, issues, and communities. A key takeaway for me was understanding the elements of organizational leadership and how all the pieces work together in public- and independent-school settings.

   

  My doctoral program at the College of William and Mary allowed me to work in schools while doing my coursework. This enabled me to apply the principles of leadership I was learning in the classroom to real-world situations. Currently, I am in conversation with several colleges and universities about creating these kinds of experiences. My wish is to expand the accessibility of programs focused specifically on leadership in independent and charter schools. Thinking back on my influential TTC roots, I am invested in finding ways to expand educators’ opportunities to connect to the vision, mission, and methodology of the TTC.

• + Dr. Charlotte Jacobs TTC ‘06

  Currently: Co-Director, Independent School Teaching Residency (ISTR), University of Pennsylvania Impact: One of my priorities is to shift attitudes, policies, traditions, and cultures at independent schools so that people of color can more easily rise to positions of leadership. For the past three years, I have co-directed ISTR, a two-year master’s program with a residency-based teaching model. One of its goals is to diversify the independent-school teaching force.

  
  

  As I finished my Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, I was on the track to be a K–12 diversity director or a tenure-track professor. For the past three years, I have co-directed the Independent School Teaching Residency (ISTR) program at the University of Pennsylvania, a two-year master’s program with a residency-based teaching model. It is a co-construction between UPenn professors, the ISTR program directors, and the heads of school at our 21 partner schools. I oversee the program’s day-school cohort, and I am the History, Social Contexts, & Culture curricular strand leader for our day- and boarding-school programs. 

  
  

  One of ISTR’s goals is to diversify the independent-school teaching force. One way we do this is by supporting our partner schools in recruiting, hiring, and retaining ISTR fellows of color. One of my priorities is to shift attitudes, policies, traditions, and cultures at independent schools so that people of color can more easily rise to positions of leadership. Over the eight years of ISTR’s existence, independent schools have hired 165 graduates. Seventy-seven percent of our alums are still teaching, with 13% pursuing further education and 4% working in non-school-based education fields.

  
  

  The most rewarding aspect of my work is mentoring novice teachers. In my role, I draw on my grad school and teaching experiences, especially on what I learned in the TTC. For example, we have a strand focused on reflective practice, which emulates what I learned at the TTC. I also embrace the TTC ethos: teaching is a craft that requires you to create your own identity. Moreover, you must reinvent yourself on a regular basis because that identity constantly evolves.

  
  

  I take pride in making a difference in people’s lives. I am a professor in education; I teach teachers; I shift the culture of schools; I change the landscape for people of color. I feel fortunate to be in a position to do this important work and to have found the TTC, which started me on a path of making a difference on a large scale.

• + Kabir Sen ’92 TTC ’07 

  Current: Music Educator, Shady Hill School   Impact: I have taught music at Shady Hill now for 21 years. The TTC’s "learn to teach by teaching" ethos helped me develop the self-awareness, direction, and skills I needed to instill a love of music in my students.

  
  

  My career as a teacher at Shady Hill began in 1999. I was hired to give music lessons and coach sports while also teaching hip-hop and drama electives. I knew that I wanted to teach. although I was unsure whether I should be a classroom or music teacher. Desirée Ivey and Hannah Jones encouraged me to join the TTC as well as pursue a Master’s in Elementary Education at Lesley University.

   

  During my TTC year, I did my fall practicum in Tracy Eisenberg’s fifth-grade classroom and then a music one the following spring. Tracy teaches with the brilliant blend of fun and toughness. As her apprentice, I saw the importance of high expectations, direct communication, and clear limits. The lessons I learned in her classroom have informed my teaching ever since. In my music apprenticeship, I was mentored by three experienced music teachers, each with a distinct style and set of strengths: Meg Burt, Paul Benzaquin, and Alison Manion. This rich experience helped me discover how much I love engaging in the musical process with children. 

   

  I have now been teaching music at Shady Hill for 21 years. I entered the TTC with major questions about my teaching future. The TTC’s "learn to teach by teaching" ethos helped me develop the self-awareness, direction, and skills to build a career as a music educator and instill a love of music in my students.

• + Camille Lipford Seals TTC '09

  Currently:Head of School, Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, OH Impact: At Agnes Irwin, I ensure that our curriculum is vertically aligned and that we operate as one school. I work to create and sustain school policies and procedures that meet the needs of everyone in our community and help them be their authentic selves. I am deeply committed to creating school cultures that help kids thrive and that also take care of teachers.

  
  

  I came into the TTC very green. I had a heart for kids but didn’t yet have the tools to be the excellent educator I was striving to become. Thanks to my Shady Hill training and the TTC’s “learn to teach by teaching” model, I now always consider a decision’s impact on children, be it a decision about budget, scheduling, or programming.After graduating from the TTC in 2009, I was hungry for stretch opportunities that would enable me to develop initiatives focused on bringing long-term, systemic change to a school. 

  
  

  Today, I am the Head of School at Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio.

• + Nathan Tanaka TTC ‘13

  Currently: Middle School Division Head, Prospect Sierra, El Cerrito, CA. TTC Advisory Board 2019–21  Impact: I am drawn to working in areas where people are struggling to achieve something important, and, thanks to the TTC, I feel I have a versatile toolkit for making an impact.

  
  I am the Middle School Division Head at Prospect Sierra in El Cerrito, CA, a school dedicated to making the world a better place. Being a division head puts me in the middle of the action. Something I learned during my TTC experience is that schools are dynamic, team-oriented places where communication, collaboration, empathy, and social skills are as important as the academics. Working side-by-side with my TTC directing teachers, I developed an awareness of the nuances of what everyone was going through: students, apprentices, teachers, administrators, and parents. To have Prospect Sierra students soar, I have to be mindful of all of these dimensions when shaping their experience.  Currently, I am hiring a middle-school counselor, and I am drawing heavily on the cultural competency and diversity work we covered in the TTC. In this era of social media, technology, and increased depression and anxiety, especially for girls, the counselor I hire fundamentally affects students’ experience here as well as in the future. I have the TTC to thank for helping me deeply understand the importance of identity and emotion in every role in a school. The TTC creates capacity for people to jump off in any direction they want to go in the world of education—teacher, administrator, diversity director, counselor, department chair, etc. I am drawn to working in areas where people are struggling to achieve something important, and, thanks to the TTC, I feel I have a versatile toolkit for making an impact. For example, I am a founding member of Meadowbrook School’s Multicultural Teaching Institute, which engages practitioners from all over the country who are committed to creating equitable schools. I have also updated Prospect Sierra’s hiring practices to mitigate implicit bias. As my career unfolds, I know I will continue to draw on the many educational perspectives and practices I learned as part of my TTC experience.