2022-23 welcomes new staff
Along with 46 new students across the middle and high schools, The Sharon Academy welcomes seven new staff members this school year. TSA looks forward to learning from the fascinating life and work experiences of this group of educators.
Back row: Hailey, Jen, Mitch, Patrick
Front row: Tara, Ella, Christina
- Tara Goreau is joining us as our Middle School Art Teacher and Afternoon Program Coordinator. She has been a freelance mural artist for the last 10 years. In recent years she has also been working in various community arts education programs with students of all ages. Her dog Vilo will be a welcome occasional visitor at the middle school as well.
- Ella Hayslett will be the new Middle School Spanish Teacher. A 2011 graduate of TSA, Ella has most recently been working with unaccompanied minors in a Texas refugee shelter as a horticulture therapist. She is looking forward to contributing to her home community by sharing what she has learned since she left TSA.
- Christine Meagher will teach Spanish at the High School, serve as an advisor, and Block 3 teacher. Christine has been teaching Spanish to students of all ages across area schools for the past 6 years and is excited to share her love of travel, cooking, and knowledge with students at a single high school.
- Patrick Mullins has taught math at the University of Vermont and Norwich University and has also tutored students from around the Upper Valley in math and biology. He will be teaching Algebra with the High School math department and serve as an advisor and Block 3 teacher.
- Hailey Neal will be the new Middle School Language Arts Teacher, advisor, and ESP teacher. After growing up in the Pomfret area, Hailey earned her B.S. in professional writing from Champlain College and her M.A. in secondary English education from Relay GSE. She started her teaching career as a ropes course facilitator in Essex, VT, before joining Teach for America and going on to teach in Philadelphia, New York, and Beijing, China. In her free time, Hailey enjoys cooking, outdoor sports like paddle-boarding and running, and spending time with the two rescue cats she brought home from China.
- Jen Tewksbury started in June as our High School Administrative Support Assistant. Jen has a daughter starting in TSA’s 9th grade this year and she was the 2022 Girls Basketball Coach. Jen also has experience as an early childhood educator.
- Mitch Wenz first joined TSA as the track coach in the 2021 Spring season. He is now TSA’s Health and Wellness teacher. Mitch earned a B.S. in Political Science with a minor in Art in 2008 from Castleton State College and went on to earn a Masters 100 Tons at Alaska Nautical School, receiving his U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential. Mitch grew up in Thetford, VT, but has spent the last 13 years living between Alaska and Vermont. Over the years Mitch has been an Art teacher, Kindergarten teacher, Environmental Educator, Outdoor Educator, and School Administrator, as well as a Commercial Fisherman, Kayaking Guide, and Boat Captain.
Given the unusually large number of new staff members, Human Resources Director Kate Fabrikant conducted a well-organized and thorough onboarding process on Monday, August 22, to get the newcomers up to speed on the school culture and processes. The first indication of TSA’s collaborative and welcoming culture was the offering of donuts and freshly homemade blueberry lemon cake to sustain them.
The new staff members heard brief presentations from Head of School Mary Newman, Director of the Middle School Andrew Lane, Human Resources Director Kate Fabrikant, Director of Information Technology Carl Groppe, and Digital Media Manager Wendy Spector. After a group photo and lunch, they broke up into their school groups for a more detailed review of Middle and High School protocols.
Mary Newman welcomed the new staffers with an important observation. “The way TSA fulfills its Mission can sometimes make it a crazy place to work, for all the right reasons. It’s still a really young school, founded only 26 years ago when there were a lot of students and families in the region wanting a school that was out of the box in its approach to teaching and learning. The world has changed dramatically since then, and so have our communities. One of the school’s greatest strengths has been its ability to adapt to the needs of our students, who are in turn having to adapt to the constantly changing world around them.
Another really important thing about working at TSA is the extent to which every individual has a voice and autonomy. That hasn’t changed since the beginning and it is the number one reason why I’ve stuck around. I couldn’t believe how I, as a brand new teacher, had a real voice in decision-making at the school. As we’ve had to continuously take stock of what’s going on in the world and with our students and what we’re going to do about it, the power to be heard and have a say in what the school does can be inspiring, invigorating, and exhausting. But don’t worry—no one has to throw ideas into the ring until they are ready to do so.”
As the old hands dug into the donuts and cake to break the ice, and the newcomers settled in to take their portions, Mary encouraged them to lean on each other as they learn the ropes and become integrated into the school. “You are a team of people who have the common ground of being new together, even though each of you is starting from your individual place of understanding and familiarity with the school. Whether you are a TSA alumnus or brand new to our area, I encourage you to use your collective newness for support. Take comfort in each other and the power of starting something new together—certainly that’s what we’ll all be doing with our students next week.”
In-service work continued with the full staff through Thursday, August 25, ahead of the Labor Day weekend, as they prepared for the three days of Orientation the following week and for the school year ahead.
New Staff 2022