When the students become the teachers

September 10, 2022

It’s a point of pride for a school when its students want to return and become teachers. This year, The Sharon Academy is welcoming its sixth alumnus to its teaching staff of 36. The first graduating class of 2001 had exactly one student. In the subsequent 20 years, many alumni have returned at some point to work at TSA as instructors, teachers, and coaches. 



When they were young

Spike teaching, October 2016

Spike Carter ‘04 was one of the earliest graduates who found his calling in teaching. Spike had always been drawn to work that held the weight of responsibility, whether it was lifeguarding or boat guiding, or ultimately, teaching. He attributes his specific interest in teaching directly to having transferred to TSA in the 11th grade. “I had been in my public schools through the 10th-grade but sensed that I wasn’t living up to my potential.” He transferred to TSA for the academics and quickly found the challenge he was seeking as well as teachers who inspired and supported him. “I remember Seth [Goodwin] in particular, put on a master class of curricular design. It was really cross-curricular, integrating history and English. While I passively appreciated it as a student, as a teacher I realized that it was amazing.” Joining TSA as an English teacher in 2011, Spike found the school to be an equally challenging and inspiring place to teach.

 

School Counselor Lydia Wood ‘10 started at TSA as a 9th grader who had struggled academically and socially in middle school. Her two brothers were finding success at TSA so it seemed a natural path for her and she quickly found her own success at TSA as well. Almost immediately she made friends and began to earn top grades in her classes. Lydia attributes this transformation to TSA’s culture. “I had the jitters when I first came here but they disappeared so quickly. I made tons of friends and really didn’t see any social struggle.” She recalled one example of a new student who was badly behaved. “I don’t remember anyone ever explicitly telling him to change his behavior; everyone else just set the example and he eventually stopped acting poorly.” Academically, Lydia went from hating and practically failing middle school to excelling in and loving her work. “By the time I left high school, I was confident and felt way more prepared than my college friends. Academics were actually very rigorous, which shows how incredible a place it was; students succeeded because the teachers and the community gave them the support they needed.”

 

The newest alumnus to join the faculty is Ella Hayslett ‘11. Now she works on par with many of her beloved former teachers, advisors, and mentors. “It’s all a bit too surreal, so it’s just as well that I am teaching Spanish down at the middle school, where I did not attend. It’s powerful to experience a new part of TSA and witness the 7th and 8th graders encircled by the same fierce support, guidance, and love that I received at the high school.”

 

Margaret teaching at the Middle School, September 2022

Another Middle School teacher who graduated from TSA is Margaret Gish ‘14. She earned an education degree from the University of Vermont but her two years teaching at another small school left her feeling very defeated, alone, and feeling unsure if teaching was her calling. “I was re-examining everything and knew that I loved school and learning. I was thinking about graduate school in special education when Andrew [Lane, Director of TSA Middle School] reached out and we began having conversations about what the first special educator at TSA middle school could look like…” Ultimately, she joined the faculty in 2021. “I feel incredibly lucky that I was able to spend my first year at TSA co-teaching language arts with Marcy [Innes, who retired at the end of the 2021-22 school year]. I had Marcy for language arts when I was in middle school and it was so incredible to develop a teaching relationship with someone whom I consider a lifelong supporter, cheerleader, and friend.”



The TSA community is the magnet and the glue 

Unanimously, all six of our alumni teachers remembered the TSA community as the unique characteristic of the school that drew them in as students, helped them to succeed, and led them back to becoming teachers. Understanding this unique community also gave them a head start in developing relationships with students and navigating the culture as new teachers.

 

When Grayson Levy ‘13 joined TSA in 2021 as the high school’s Assistant Athletic Director he could have been his athletes’ big brother. But this age proximity very likely helped him connect with his students. Recalling his years in college, he realized how his high school experience took some time to explain. “Many times friends would not believe we called our teachers and the Head of School by first names, or that the musical really is student-led.” In his role of helping students academically and behaviorally, he appreciates having been a student at TSA. “It certainly catches you up…on the environment and culture of the school, allowing you to hit the ground running. You are already aware of the many traditions and expectations of students (exhibitions, advisory, all-school meeting, etc) and can relate to the students with ease.”

 

As the school counselor, Lydia applies her experience as a student directly in her work. “It helps me relate with the students when I can share my experience with what they are going through. Whether it’s just that day or in life that they’re struggling with something with their academics or their families, I can talk kids through a situation in a way that’s not just theoretical but personal.”

 

Margaret also appreciated her experience as a student when she started at the middle school. “I was familiar with so many of the underlying systems and way the school functions that I was able to focus on bigger, deeper questions of how to support student learning right away.”

 

Ella with students after school, September 2022

A virtuous circle

Spike observed, “TSA is constantly evolving, but 90% of its spirit remains. I’ve worked at many other schools and the collegiality between our staff, the autonomy we teachers have to create our curriculum, the connections we have with students, and the campus itself are all important to me.” Grayson echoed this perspective. “So much about TSA is the same, and at the same time so much has changed, which is okay. Growing and evolving is natural and is something everyone does so it only makes sense that TSA does the same, however, it is comforting to know that at its core, TSA is still what you remember.” Lydia added, “Staff and faculty are still in students’ business, in the best way.” And Margaret noted, “The accepting, small-knit, bubbly community has not changed. What has changed is the diversity of students. We have students from a larger variety of backgrounds than we did when I was a student at TSA.”

 

As TSA begins its second quarter century, it’s interesting to consider that its graduates are true adults, some of whom are even approaching middle age! There are many consequences of this, but from the perspective of the teacher pool, it is exciting to think of the increasing number of alumni who might return to their alma mater. As the state of Vermont and the country as a whole face teacher shortages and hiring challenges, TSA has been fortunate to be able to tap into its alumni rosters and find talented teachers who understand the school’s character and mission.


Ella is excited to start her journey as a member of the faculty. “Being back in the TSA community as a teacher is one of the biggest surprises of my life so far, and also feels like one of the greatest gifts.” She views this gift as a way to be part of a virtuous circle in which she was a student who learned and matured under the guidance of TSA staff and now she is a teacher who can give back to a new generation of students. “I have the honor of teaching Mary Newman’s, Laura Decapua’s, and Andrew Lane’s 7th-grade kids this year. Wow. “

 

Other alumni who currently work at TSA:

Ben Gross ’15 teaching middle school science, September 2022

  • Ben Gross ‘15 is the youngest of the alumni working full-time at TSA. He joined TSA staff in 2020 to coordinate the Homework Club and is now a math teacher at the middle school. He is a long-term substitute teacher for Clare Smith’s Science class for the first half of the 2022 school year.
  • Andy Ruddell ‘14 started working part-time as TSA high school girls’ varsity soccer coach in 2019. “I really enjoy being back around the school and interacting with current students in a setting that was so important to me when I was in school. There are still many familiar faces in the school from my time, so it’s always nice to stop in and catch up with some of them. I’ve been able to maintain my connection to the community and feel like a valued contributor to the atmosphere that makes TSA such a special place.” Andy is currently Director of the Central Vermont Football Club.  
  • Otto Pierce ‘09 has been teaching the elective “The Creative Process” at the high school. Otto is a sculpture, dancer, builder, and farmer from Vermont. He graduated from Middlebury College in 2016 with a BA in Dance, and currently is the Executive Director of The Sable Project, an alternative off-grid artist residency for emerging artists of all disciplines. 

Otto Pierce ’09 teaching the elective “The Creative Process” in January 2022

Alumni who have taught at TSA in the past

  • Clara Henderson ‘16 Smith College ‘20 was a Photography elective teacher in 2021. She is currently a web content developer.
  • Quinn Thomashow ‘16 taught a filmmaking elective at the high school in 2020. In a May 2021 article in The Herald, Quinn talked about making a documentary for the class final of a filmmaking class during her junior year. “I remember it being a sort of scary thing at first to make this film that was different, but I also remember being in this class and feeling welcome to make something new, and to challenge what a documentary film is … I was really blown away by that embrace,” She went on to continue making experimental films during her years at Hampshire College and is now a professional filmmaker. 
  • Kathleen Moore ‘13 worked 2017-19 as the Academic Support Program Assistant, leaving to pursue a Master’s degree at the Harvard School of Education.

  • Katrina Alden ’12 at the high school to teach an elective, April 2022

    Katrina Alden ‘12 has taught several electives at TSA and is the founder of Rebels of the Moon.
  • Anna Kristensen (Riley) ‘05 came to TSA to teach Spanish at the high school in 2016. She left in 2019 to have her first child.
  • Hayden Thomsen ‘03, Middlebury ‘07 taught physics at TSA 2009-10. When he graduated from TSA he was just one of 13. Only 5 students had graduated before him, but the school was growing. “Not only was TSA a transformation for me, we were the school’s transformation—birth, really. Judy [Moore, the school’s founder] had the wheel, and we and our families were on for the ride; it was a lifestyle, an adventure, it was truly a thrill. We built, we rebuilt, we designed, and we redesigned.” By the time Hayden returned to teach six years later, TSA high school had a full roster of students.  “[It was] not the same place that I held so dear to my heart, but a wonderful place for so many others to love, learn, and grow.” He now teaches Automotive Technology at Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury, VT.