On his time at Beaver…
I was a lifer at Beaver — meaning that I was there from the 6th
through the 12th grades. I was not an easy kid, and Beaver was the
right place for me. I benefited from being in a collaborative and
dynamic learning environment where I was encouraged to think outside
of the box. But I also benefited from the support of Beaver’s faculty
and staff who led with empathy and understanding. After college, I
became a teacher myself, inspired, in part, by my experience at
Beaver. As a teacher, I tried to always assume the best in kids
because I felt that I always got the benefit of the doubt at Beaver.

On teachers who made a difference …
A number of teachers and administrators had a positive impact on me
including John Clippinger, Larry McKinney, Alex Gould, Kader Adjout,
Ingrid Tucker, and Tom Manning. However, two teachers stand out in my
memory: Jon Greenberg and Lisa Brown.

Jon Greenberg taught my humanities class in the 6th and 7th grades. He
was a true master teacher who was able to “read” his class at all
times and adjust his lesson plan to better reach his students. I
remember his once stopping mid class and saying, “I can tell you are
all bored, so let’s do something else”. He was always willing to
experiment and do whatever it took to get kids engaged and learning.

Lisa Brown was both my high school advisor and my English teacher in
the 9th and 12th grades. She was a great teacher and a lovely person.
Lisa was able to level with me and push me to do better when I was
struggling both academically and otherwise.

I continue to be inspired by the teachers at Beaver who had such a
positive impact on my life.

On Teach for America and teaching …
I was always drawn to teaching, and learned about Teach for America
when I was an undergraduate at Tufts. Back then, when you applied to
the program, you ranked the cities you were most and least interested
in. I remember a Memphis area code popping up on my phone one day in
the spring of my senior year and suddenly realizing that I was going
to be moving to Tennessee. TFA had a large program in Memphis, and I
found myself in a group of 200 new teachers, many of whom remain my
closest friends. It was one of the happiest times of my life.

I taught from 2013 to 2018. I began by teaching 7th grade social
studies in a small charter school. My first year of teaching was
really challenging. That year taught me a lot about hard work and
empathy. When I finished TFA in 2015, I felt that I had not reached my
peak effectiveness as a teacher, and decided to move to a more
established school that was aligned with my educational beliefs. I
went to KIPP Memphis in 2015 and taught 6th grade social studies there
for three years. During that time I became the grade level chair and
oversaw culture and discipline for a group of around 120 6th graders.
It was an amazing experience and I am grateful that I was able to work
at KIPP.

On going back to school …
In September 2018, I began an MBA program at the University of
California Berkeley Haas School of Business. I had always wanted to go
to graduate school and I thought an MBA would give me the flexibility
to do a number of things in education and otherwise. I loved my
experience at Haas, even as affected by COVID in the last few months.
I was also pleased to be part of the class of 2020 along with another
Beaver alum, Anna Soybel from the Beaver class of 2007.

What is #Happeningnow in your life? 
After graduation, I joined the consulting firm Bain & Company in San
Francisco. I am working there now.