This year we will say goodbye not only to the class of 2012, but also to the following teachers and friends: science teacher David Howell, Admissions Associate Sigrid Howell, history teacher Karen McConnell, science teacher Julie Cullen, English teacher Gina Apostol, science and Health Issues teacher Brian Fry, and English teacher Louise Kinder.
The longest serving teacher to be leaving is Mr. Howell ’65, a former Deerfield student himself. Having served his entire teaching career of 43 years here at Deerfield, Mr. Howell is just one of the teachers that contributed to the school’s academic success.
Dean of Faculty John Taylor described Mr. Howell as a man who “almost single-handedly built the astronomy program at Deerfield.”
“Mr. Howell is a very wise voice in the faculty. He will be greatly missed when he leaves,” he continued.
“I was involved in the design of several courses, certainly the astronomy course and the Unified Science curriculum. I was also involved in the design of two science buildings here,” Mr. Howell said.
When asked what he would miss most about Deerfield, Mr. Howell said, “I will miss the students, the youthfulness, the energy, the enthusiasm. I’m certainly going to miss my colleagues, but the school overall. It’s just an extraordinary group of people and I think that our students are really fortunate to work with such a fine group.”
This year we also have a couple of younger teachers leaving Deerfield. Ms. Kinder, who started teaching at the school just this year, is one of these teachers. Ms. Kinder said, “I had a lot of fun. It was a great place to start teaching. As much as I was a teacher, I was a student of the other helpful faculty.”
Although she was only here for one year, she expressed her feelings on her departure. “I will really miss how I was able to interact with teachers and students. It was really cool to be able to run downstairs anytime and talk to Mr. Nilsson about poems or something,” Ms. Kinder said.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: May 26, 2012
An article on May Issue about the departing faculty, incorrectly stated the graduation year of Mr. David Howell. He is a member of the Deerfield Class of 1965, not 1969.