Head of School Bob Henderson ’76, Dean of Students Marcela Maldonado, Dean of Faculty Maura Sullivan and Head of Upper School Michael Denning were among those who welcomed 15 new faculty and staff members to campus the last week of August. The newest members of the community joined together for team building exercises, to tour the campus, meet with mentors and learn “all things Nobles.”
Check out the new faculty and staff bios below:
Katherine Amano
English Department/Teaching Faculty
Katherine Amano moved to western Massachusetts from West Hills, Calif., for a new adventure. There, she attended Williams College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and psychology in 2013. At Williams, Amano captained the crew team and served as a member of the Outing Club Board. Additionally, it was her time as a junior advisor that made Amano decide to pursue a career in education. For the past two years, Amano has worked as an English teaching fellow at the Emma Willard School in upstate New York, while completing a concurrent master of arts in teaching (M.A.T.) program at Union Graduate College. This June, Amano returned to Chewonki for her second summer as a trip leader. She is excited to join the Nobles community, teaching English to Classes IV and III.
E.B. Bartels
History Department/History and Social Science Teaching Faculty
Even though words usually come easily to her, E.B. Bartels is having trouble articulating just how excited she is to be back at Nobles. A native of historical Lexington, Massachusetts, Bartels. attended Nobles from 2002 to 2006, where she spent her time editing Calliopé, playing cello and figuring out how to make fake blood for the 2004 production of Bat Boy: The Musical. After donning the traditional flower crown and white dress, Bartels headed over to nearby Wellesley College. There, Bartels was a Russian language and literature major and a studio art minor (focusing on photography), and from June 2008 to July 2009, she lived in St. Petersburg, Russia. Bartels also spent time studying in Moscow and at Lake Baikal in Siberia. After graduating in 2010, Bartels moved to Dorchester, where served as an AmeriCorps teaching fellow at Mother Caroline Academy for two years. In 2012, when her AmeriCorps term was complete, Bartels moved to New York to pursue her MFA in creative nonfiction writing at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. While at Columbia, Bartels continued to teach. Since completed her MFA, she has been freelance writing and editing while nannying for a family in Cambridge. This fall, E.B. will provide academic and program support in the middle school, while advising on the yearbook. In the spring, Bartels will take on four sections of Class VI geography and Class V civics. Additionally, Bartels will be involved with the NTC, helping with the booth during assembly and working on various theatre productions.
Charles Danhof
English Department/Teaching Faculty
Charles Danhof comes to Nobles after spending a year at BB&N and 11 years at Blair Academy where, fresh out of college, he began his career as an educator. While at Blair, Danhof developed an intense appreciation for educating the whole student. He primarily served as an English teacher, wrestling coach, and advisor, and he also coached football and led many student and faculty groups during his tenure, in particular, championing the importance of public speaking. Along the way, Danhof earned a master’s degree from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English, combining his passion for travel (studying in Alaska, North Carolina, New Mexico and Vermont), his enjoyment of the outdoors and his love of literature. Before those ventures, he spent his undergraduate years at Williams College, where several key professors helped develop and spark his enjoyment of reading, writing and analyzing texts. Even though he spent most of his adult life in rural New Jersey, Danhof is certainly no stranger to New England; he was born and raised in southern New Hampshire. At Nobles, Danhof looks forward to continuing the tradition of the wrestling team, bringing with him what he learned while coaching BB&N, team New Jersey and perennial powerhouse Blair Academy. He also looks forward to leading all his students toward an interest in the study of English.
Amelia Fitch
Performing Arts Department/Teaching Fellow
Amelia Fitch joins the Performing Arts Department at Nobles as its resident costume designer for all of the middle and upper school productions this upcoming year. She is a recent graduate of Smith College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in technical theatre and pursued her love for costume design through Smith’s theatre department and beyond. During her time at Smith, Fitch designed costumes for many main stage productions, the most recent being Water by the Spoonful and Time Stands Still. She has also worked as an independent costume designer for wide-ranging projects including Les Lettres De Werther, an opera loosely based on Goethe’s novel, and "The Stand-Ins," a web mini-series about a young theatre company that will do anything to scrape by. During her summers Amelia works at New Century Theatre, a summer repertory theatre based out of Northampton. One of the most enjoyable parts of her summer is designing the costumes for New Century Theatre Kids, where she makes fantastical creations such as chihuahua circus performers, dancing composition notebooks, Siamese cat country singers and more! In her free time Fitch enjoys honing various craftwork skills such as hand sewing, needle felting, embroidery, and leather tooling. She is also passionate about community service and cooking and has never met an animal she didn’t want to pet. Fitch is excited to join the Nobles community and to guide students through the costume design process, as well as to work with the Nobles performing arts department to create beautiful theatre and dance productions.
Marissa Gedman
Science Department/Teaching Fellow
Marissa Gedman comes to Nobles from nearby Harvard University where she majored in human evolutionary biology and minored in psychology. A member of the women’s ice hockey team there, her hockey roots actually started here at Nobles in the Bliss Omni Rink. While pursuing her interest in medicine by completing some post-bac credits for medical school, Gedman is excited to get back to Dedham and be a bulldog once again. Gedman will be teaching Class IV honors biology under the guidance of the honorable Deb Harrison. While at Nobles this year, Gedman is excited to continue to pursue hockey by playing in a professional league out of Boston. Outside of sports, Gedman enjoys volunteering at local animal shelters and doing bikram yoga. Gedman is excited to be back at Nobles, to teach students all about biology and to live in the Castle.
James Mayo III
Performing Arts/Choral Music Teaching Faculty
A native of Baltimore, Md., James Mayo joins the Nobles community as a member of the music faculty in the performing arts department and a residential life faculty member. He earned a bachelor of science degree in music from Towson University in 2004, his master of arts in secondary teacher education from the University of Phoenix in 2012, and a master of arts in music from Morgan State University in 2015. He will start a post-master’s certificate in fall 2015 at the University of New England with a concentration in administration and supervision. He has over 25 years of experience in the music world—starting as a church musician at the age of fourteen. His teaching career started in the Baltimore City Public School system. He has also taught at the Hackley School (Tarrytown, New York) and the Hun School of Princeton (Princeton, New Jersey). At these schools, Mayo held and executed many roles. He has also had a private vocal and piano studio. James has taught at the collegiate level as an adjunct faculty member at the Community College of Baltimore County. He is a certified master music teacher with the state of Maryland—having earned his advanced professional certificate in 2013, the highest certificate awarded to a teacher in the state. During the summer, Mayo works at Camp Dudley, which is the oldest, continuously operating boys’ camp in America. He has been the director of music for over 10 years.
Mayo has also traveled to Europe on two different choir tours. He cherishes his time with students, devotes his time and energy to their well-being and education as others have done for him.
Chris Pratt
Mathematic Department/ Teaching Fellow
A native of Wellesley, Mass., Chris Pratt attended Noble and Greenough, where he experienced first-hand the incredibly devoted faculty, staff and coaches. It was in his classes at Nobles, especially his senior year calculus class with Nick Nickerson, where he developed a passion for mathematics. After graduating from Nobles in 2010 Pratt attended Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He majored in mathematical sciences and minored in administrative sciences. During his time at Colby, he was a four-year member of the Colby men’s soccer team, and in his senior season he received all-NESCAC distinction and was a team captain. While at Colby he spent time as a math tutor in the Waterville school system and coached for Central Maine United, a local youth soccer organization. After graduating from Colby in 2014 Pratt had the opportunity to follow his passion and play soccer professionally overseas. He spent three months living in Vedbæk, Denmark, and playing for BK Søllerød-Vedbæk, eventually becoming the starting center-midfielder for their reserve team. The time Pratt spent working with local Waterville students, as well as his incredibly positive experience while at Nobles, helped him to develop a passion for working with students and an interest in teaching. After returning from Denmark, Pratt was given the opportunity to begin his teaching career at CATS Academy Boston in Newton. Having the opportunity to teach algebra and geometry to a predominately international cohort of students was an incredible learning experience for Pratt, and he is excited to continue the learning under the teaching faculty at Nobles. In his free time, Pratt enjoys playing soccer, hanging out with friends and listening to country music. He is excited to return to his alma mater and work to have the same positive impact on his students that all his teachers had on him.
Paul Properzio
Classics Department/Teaching Faculty
Paul Properzio joins the Classics Department in January 2016 to teach Latin part-time. He received a bachelor’s in Greek and Latin from the University of New Hampshire with minors in Russian and Italian. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Classical Studies from Loyola University Chicago where he wrote a dissertation on The Mythic History of Greco-Roman Marseilles in Southern France. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in humanities at Princeton University.
Properzio has been chair and associate professor of classics at Drew University; taught Latin at Hanover (NH) High School; Latin, Ancient History, and Classical Mythology at Reading (Mass.) High School; Roman Civilization at UMassBoston; and for 17 years taught Latin, Greek and the Myth Tradition at Boston Latin Academy from which he retired in 2014. He serves on the editorial board of Amphora, a journal published by the Society for Classical Studies, and is vice president of the Boston Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. His research and publications focus on the Classical Tradition in America, Europe and Asia. He also publishes and presents papers on the influence of ancient Greek literature and drama on 17th-century French literature and drama. Properzio is delighted to be joining the Nobles community to share his enthusiasm for the classics with students.
Jermetrius Troy
Admissions Department/Athletics Department
Jermetrius “Troy” Troy joins the Nobles faculty as an assistant director of admission and head coach for varsity football. Troy, a native of Northridge, Calif., relocated to the Boston area as a teenager. He is a graduate of Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., where he received a bachelor's degree in communication. During and after college, Troy worked as a supervisor in both a girls and boys detention lockup facility. After college, he began teaching psychology and coaching at Cheshire Academy, a boarding school, in Cheshire, Conn. Troy then relocated to the Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H., where he taught and coached. Troy is very excited about the opportunity to join the Nobles community.
Paulina Jones-Torregrosa
Diversity Initiatives/Teaching Fellow
Paulina Jones-Torregrosa is excited to join the Nobles team as a teaching fellow in the Diversity Initiatives Office. She is a native of South Windsor, Conn., and recently completed a bachelor’s degree in English and feminist, gender and sexuality studies at Wesleyan University. While at Wesleyan, Jones-Torregrosa completed a senior honors thesis. She was also selected as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, which prepared her for graduate school while introducing her to a wonderful cohort of students of color. While at Wesleyan, Jones-Torregrosa enjoyed volunteering in the local public schools, and she also worked for two summers as a teaching assistant in Columbia University's High School program. Jones-Torregrosa is a native Spanish speaker and has traveled widely in Spain, Chile and Ecuador. In the future, she hopes to pursue a doctorate in English to further her teaching career.
Henry Upton
Classics Department/Teaching Fellow
Henry Upton joins Nobles as a teaching fellow after completing his bachelor of arts in classics at Kenyon College in Ohio. Although he spent his college years only a short drive from Columbus, Henry hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up playing several sports, primarily hockey and lacrosse. As a kid, he developed a love for all things Greek and Roman, and once he started Latin in middle school he never stopped. At Kenyon he took on Greek and Italian as well, and he was fortunate enough to study abroad twice in Rome, once during a semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies and again at the Gabii archaeological site run by the University of Michigan. In college, he was also a captain of the Kenyon Ultimate team (SERF), a teaching assistant for the first year Greek class and a co-president of the school’s chapter of the Eta Sigma Phi classical honor society.
Holly Bonomo
EXCEL Faculty/Community Service Coordinator
Holly Bonomo, a Nobles graduate, joins the EXCEL (Experiential and Community Engaged Learning) faculty focusing on supporting the school’s service efforts. Bonomo has a long history with the school. She reconnected with Nobles in 1995 while working on a project for Teach for America in graduate school. Since then, Bonomo has been involved in the Nobles community in many ways including serving on the Graduates Council, helping to organize the last two Common Fire (community service) events and participating in the school's governance. Bonomo attended Georgetown University and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Bonomo has a varied business background working in corporate finance in New York City, for a venture capital firm in Hungary and for the social enterprise, Bright Horizons. As a student at Nobles, she became passionate about being involved in community service. After graduating from Georgetown, Bonomo taught ESL to adults in New York City and English at a public high school in Budapest soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall. More recently, she has been actively involved in Reach Out & Read, Rosie's Place and Family Promise, and did a volunteer consulting project through HBS for Jumpstart. Last year at Nobles, Bonomo served on the Common Fire planning committee and as a coach for the community service afternoon program. Bonomo is very excited to be a part of the EXCEL team and is looking forward to getting to know more of the students and faculty at Nobles.
Anna Loveys
Performing Arts/Teaching Fellow
Anna Loveys graduated from Bucknell University in May 2013 with a degree and certification in Elementary Education and a minor in Dance. She was a member of the Bucknell Dance Company, while also serving as their public relations chair and vice president. She choreographed pieces for the company as well as the student showcase series. During her undergraduate study, Loveys spent a semester abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. For the past two years, Loveys has been in New York City, dancing and training with Pushing Progress Contemporary Dance Company. She taught dance classes and ran rehearsals at the Art of Dance in Chester, New Jersey. Creating art is a passion for Loveys. She was honored in fall 2014 to be a guest artist at Bucknell to set a piece for their Fall Dance Showcase. Loveys is very happy to be given the opportunity to merge her passions for dance and education.
Amy McHugh
School Supplies/Snack Bar Manager
Amy McHugh grew up in Lexington, Mass. and attended Salem State University and studied abroad at the University of Lyon in Lyon, France. She is the mother of two, Jake and Molly, and has been married to her husband, Mike, since 1997. McHugh is an avid volunteer for many organizations and believes in giving back. She will walk her fourth Jimmy Fund Walk in September, supports the ALS Foundation, and enjoys helping with whatever school activity her kids are involved in. She also coaches girls' soccer for the town of Dedham. In her spare time she maintains a small design business and refinishes furniture. “I love taking something old and giving it new life with a new purpose,” she says.
Michael Polebaum
Development/Assistant Director of Graduate Affairs
After graduating from Nobles in 2008 and Middlebury College in 2012, Michael Polebaum has spent the last three years in the world of Massachusetts politics. Beginning as a field assistant on the 2012 Joe Kennedy for Congress race, he went on to work as Legislative Aide to State Representative Jay Kaufman. For the last two years, Polebaum worked at the government relations consulting firm, Gateway Public Solutions. While at GPS, Polebaum worked on various campaigns including races for Attorney General, Governor and Congress. He also served as a lobbyist on Beacon Hill helping to pass legislation ranging from economic development to healthcare policy and financing. He is very excited to be returning to Nobles and is looking forward to connecting with the school’s vast graduate network.