K-9 at BCD (a lifer)Attended Phillips Academy Andover, Harvard University, and The Royal Academy of Dramatic ArtCurrently live in: Great Barrington, MA with husband John, a teacher of French at BCD, and son George, 14 months.Professional experience: Acting, teaching at BCD and elsewhere, directing student plays, brief stints in marketing and editing.
Favorite BCD memory: Out of so many that friends and I still recount, Nina Sisselman crawling on Mr. Fawcett’s lap and calling him “Frufina Chrysanthemum.” I still laugh thinking about it.
Other favorite memory: Meeting my friend Sara Monsonis on the first day of kindergarten. I went up to her and asked her if her name was Susan. I just thought she looked like a Susan. We are still very close friends.
Favorite intellectual gift from BCD: Learning to articulate interior experience from Mr. Fawcett.I always knew somehow I’d come back to BCD. I think I must be a person of great contrasts, because I wanted to become a great actress in the old-fashioned style, preferably on the London stage (and screen), and then come back and teach Latin at BCD. I think I wanted to be a combination of Katharine Hepburn and Mrs. Fawcett.
When I think of my time as a student at BCD, I think of the teachers who shaped and supported me. I felt like everything I did, everything I tried, there were supportive adults there with encouragement and challenge. I was a lousy athlete, but Mr. Miller and Mrs. Heady encouraged me to do my best and praised me when I did. Mrs. Hendrix had a great way of giving a critique without criticizing. As a teacher, I try to emulate Mrs. Addicks’ easygoing humor, and Madame Veillette’s views on animal rights influence me to this day. But my intellectual foundation is pure Fawcett—I am an unreconstructed humanist, with a belief in the power and beauty of words, and ideas, and the rewards of old-fashioned rigor. I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside them.
Advice to students at BCD: I would say keep in touch with your classmates, but Facebook has made it impossible not to. Having shared so many experiences over so many formative years, my BCD classmates and I are still a community. We have made lots of different life choices, but our time at BCD remains a very strong bond.
Most cherished goal: Being as cool as the Fawcetts one day.
