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Meet Our New Faculty & Staff
Head of School Mark Davis welcomed new (and some familiar) faces to the Hilltop. Here are his spoken remarks shared during this week’s Faculty-Staff meetings:
Dan Clarke
Dan Clarke has been the Girls Varsity Soccer coach at St Luke's since the Fall of 2010, and this year also becomes our Sports Information Specialist. He graduated from Leeds University in the U.K. with a degree in Sport, Health, Exercise & Nutrition. He was also a two-sport athlete at Leeds, representing his school in soccer & golf. Prior to moving to the U.S. he worked as a sports journalist for Teamtalk.com, primarily writing and reporting for their soccer department. Dan has been coaching youth Soccer in Connecticut since 2002, working with a number of local towns and club teams. He is currently the Director of Coaching for New Canaan FC and resides in Fairfield with his wife, Elizabeth.
Susanna Clavelli
Susanna graduated from Fairfield University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. While at Fairfield, she worked as a teaching assistant and peer tutor—the beginning of her passion for teaching. Susanna taught Biology and Chemistry at her former high school until marrying her college sweetheart and returning to Connecticut.
She continued her career at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull where she developed several science courses. After taking time away from the classroom to raise her three sons, she accepted a part-time position at Notre Dame, Fairfield last year when her youngest went to Kindergarten. She quickly realized it was time to return to the classroom in a full-time capacity, and is thrilled to be teaching Chemistry and Honors Chemistry in the Upper School at St. Luke’s. Outside of teaching, Susanna has been active in her sons’ school PTA, eventually becoming PTA President. She loves exercising at Bar Method, where she is able to incorporate skills from years of ballet into a less strenuous method of exercise. She also enjoys cooking and baking, and spending time outdoors with her boys.
Adja Dramé
Adja joins St. Luke’s as a teaching fellow in Middle School French—specifically, 7th grade. She graduated from Hamilton College with a concentration in World Politics and French, and has always been fascinated with education, law, and technology. Her passion for a career in education developed at Hamilton where she worked as a Philosophy Teacher's Assistant, helping first-year college students develop their reading comprehension and essay-writing skills. After that rewarding experience she tutored English to young French children throughout a year in Paris. And during her senior year she worked as a French Teacher's Assistant for beginner and intermediate French language learners.
Adja was trilingual by the age of six, speaking French, Wolof, and English. She has also been a dancer for 12 years, with experience in contemporary dance, ballet, jazz, tap, step, hip-hop, Korean pop, and West African dance. She’s a poet at heart, enjoying both structured poetry and streams of consciousness, and was a sprinter on her high school track team in the 100m, 200m, and 400m relays.
Elisabeth Evans
As you know, Mike Rupp is Interim Director of Admissions and Financial Aid until Ginny Bachman returns in January. During that time, Elisabeth is serving as Interim Associate Director. A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Elisabeth was Associate Director of Admissions at Southern Methodist University for seven years before coming to the independent school world, where she was Associate Director of Admissions at Hotchkiss and Exeter and Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Westover. Prior to last year, she spent twelve years at Horizons New Canaan, where she co-directed the high school program, including overseeing the college counseling program and Horizons’ academic tutors. She loves to hike, so feels more than ready for this fall’s long commute to work.
Eli Fendelman
An an educator, technologist, photographer, and world traveler from New York City, Eli is our new Academic Technologist. He first became interested in education during his undergraduate years at Johns Hopkins, where, although he was studying Art History and Classics, he had the chance to teach and mentor at-risk inner city Baltimore middle schoolers. After finishing at Hopkins he worked as an elementary co-teacher at Greenwich Country Day School while completing his Masters in Educational Technology at Teachers College, which together cemented his decision to work with children. For the next seven years Eli worked at Saddle River Day School in Saddle River, New Jersey, wearing many hats: Latin, Geometry, and Statistics teacher; student information system (Whipple Hill/Blackbaud) Platform manager; Network Administrator; and school photographer. He has also taught as a volunteer in Asia and Africa. He has many passions, hobbies, and interests, but chief among them are music, travel, photography, the Cosmos, and the Internet of Things.
Mary Frederick
Our new Upper School math teacher, Mary comes to us from St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida. Mary began her teaching career at St. Andrews as an Upper School Math teacher in 2003. In 2010, Mary and her family relocated to Alexandria, Virginia where she taught Upper School math at St. Stephen’s & St Agnes for 3 years. Most recently she returned to St. Andrew’s—where her career began-—to serve as a Middle School math teacher and as the Middle School math coordinator.
Mary’s career in teaching came after almost ten years in the Hospitality Industry. She worked in Sales & Marketing for Hilton Hotels in New York City, The New York Palace Hotel, and the Boca Raton Resort and Club. As luck would have it, her family had the opportunity to relocate again to Southwest Connecticut, which brings her to St Luke’s where she will teach Geometry and Algebra 2. Mary graduated from Florida State University with a B.S. in Business. She loves to cook and owned a restaurant for several years. She runs any chance she can get and is a scratch golfer. She also is an avid sports fan, and loves her Florida State Seminoles. Mary lives in Stamford with her husband Paul, her two teenage children Matthew and Alana, and her very special rescue dog Cooper.
Samantha Gordon
Samantha joins St. Luke’s from Berwick Academy where she team-taught World Cultures in Berwick’s History department, and coached Field Hockey and Swimming. The highlight of co-teaching 7th grade history was facilitating “GlobalEx”; this year long student-driven interdisciplinary unit bridged the gap between science and social studies and provided students with the skills to authentically tackle relevant issues in their Southeast Asian country of research. Samantha completed her undergraduate degree from Lehigh University and received her Masters in Secondary Education from Lesley University. She is originally from the tristate area and is ecstatic to be back in New England. Outside of teaching, Samantha loves traveling, cooking, running and can be found on the nearest mountain hiking or skiing. Samantha finds the distinct energy and creativity of middle school students exciting, and looks forward to joining the St. Luke’s family and teaching in the middle school realm.
Jesse Izzo
We’d like to welcome Jesse Izzo back to the Hilltop. Jesse is filling in for Kirstie Tobler during her maternity leave. A native of the area, Jesse is happy to be returning to the St. Luke’s community after a 7-year hiatus. He previously taught 7th and 8th grade English here from 2006 to 2009, after a stint as a very green maternity-leave sub the year before. In the fall of 2009 he moved to Minneapolis and started work on his Ph.D. in medieval history at the University of Minnesota, a degree that he completed this past May. Though exciting, that accomplishment probably plays second fiddle to his getting married in April. He and his wife live in Cambridge, Massachusetts—though of course he will be local while in his role at St. Luke's this fall. Jesse’s return means that we now have every teacher who replaced Ross James, as well as Ross himself, back in the English Department fold.
Tom Owen
Tom joins St. Luke’s as a teaching fellow in Upper School English. After graduating from Dartmouth in 2015 with a degree in comparative literature, Tom spent a year at Brooks School in Massachusetts, where he served as the assistant director of communications. At St. Luke’s, he will teach two sections of ninth grade English as well as assist with the Sentinel in the fall and middle school boys lacrosse in the spring. He would also welcome any advice regarding effective basketball scoreboard facilitation before he finds himself manning the controls this winter. Tom grew up in southeastern Connecticut, and as the child of two educators, he spent much of his childhood hanging out in his parents’ classrooms. He hopes that those years of doodling on whiteboards will finally serve a larger purpose as he begins his teaching career. Tom’s favorite way to take an occasional break from reading and writing is to cook excessively spicy food with his Thai grandmother.
Marina Perkins
Marina joins St. Luke’s as an Upper School History Fellow. She will teach two sections of United States History and serve as an advisor to the Debate Team. Marina grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey, and graduated from Brown University in 2015 with a B.A. in Comparative Literature and History of Art and Architecture. She recently completed an MPhil in Comparative and European Literatures at the University of Cambridge, where her scholarship focused on French historical fiction from the early modern period. Marina looks forward to working with students on a slightly less niche subject matter at St. Luke’s. She enjoys jogging, skiing, and travel, and consumes coffee and breakfast foods at any time of the day.
Efraín Pontaza
Originally from Mexico, Efraín has been a foreign language teacher since the fall of 1994. He holds a B.A. from the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo (Mexico), and a M.A.T. from the School for International Training Graduate Institute in Vermont. His experience includes teaching EFL to university students and adults in Mexico, ESL to immigrants and refugees in Northampton, Massachusetts, and Spanish in Bellows Falls High School, the Community College of Vermont, and Emma Willard School in Troy, NY for the last 11 years. Efraín is passionate about travelling and learning about other cultures. For his personal time he enjoys running, reading novels, dancing, and watching foreign films. This year, Efraín will teach Spanish I, Spanish IV Honors, Spanish V, and AP Spanish. He currently lives in Newtown, Connecticut with his wife Rosalba, his son Josué, his daughter Daniela and their three pets.
Jenn Sproule
Jenn re-joins St. Luke’s as a part-time Upper School English teacher. After a hiatus from teaching to be home with her four children, Jenn began her transition back into the classroom earlier this year in two leave-replacement positions: first, here at St. Luke’s, and later, at Rippowam Cisqua in Bedford, New York.
Jenn holds a B.A. in English Literature from Vanderbilt and an M.Ed. in Teaching of English from Teachers College. Prior to starting a family, she taught at Edgemont Junior-Senior High School in Scarsdale, New York. When not at St. Luke’s, you can most likely find Jenn at SoNo Ice House, where her four children play hockey and her husband coaches; on the tennis court playing doubles with friends; or curled up with a good book on her back porch. She lives in Ridgefield, with her family and beloved dog Lady.
Zachary Taylor
Zach has had a wealth of independent school teaching experiences, most recently at Cambridge School of Weston, near Boston. He has also taught all levels of Spanish at The MacDuffie School and Providence Country Day School. He has enjoyed coaching varsity-level tennis, cross country, and cycling teams, as well as being a resident advisor. Zach did undergraduate work at Dickinson College, and his graduate work at The New School for Social Research. He will be teaching Middle School Spanish this year, as well as working with the squash and tennis teams. On a personal level, Zach loves cycling, being outdoors, learning more about gardening, and vinyl records. He moves from Weston, Mass and a 5 mile school commute by bicycle, to Easton, Connecticut and scenic drives to work on the Merritt Parkway.
Stephen Vehslage
As Sonia wrote to St. Luke’s parents last spring, word spread quickly about our hiring of Stephen as the new Associate Director of College Counseling. And no wonder, as he has been part of the St. Luke’s community for more than ten years as parent of Wiley ’13, Bailey ’16, Henry ’16 and Sadie ’20. A graduate of Princeton, where he majored in English, he joins the college counseling team at St. Luke’s after spending 16 years in the Social Studies Department at New Canaan High School as a teacher of Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics and American Law. He has also taught Civics, Economics, U.S. History and Global History. On two different occasions, the faculty of New Canaan High School elected Stephen President of the Faculty Senate, a position that called on him to apply all of the legal and political savvy he gained from his many years as a practicing attorney (before he changed careers). In addition to his duties in the college counseling office, he will teach AP U.S. Government and Politics. Stephen also did very important work as a prep cook at a Greek restaurant, a dock hand for a Massachusetts ferry company, an envelope stuffer in the mailroom of a railway investment company, and as a spotlight operator for an off-Broadway rap musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Matt Ward
Matt comes to us from Kent Place School in Summit, New Jersey, where he was the Director of Athletics and coached girls basketball. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Miss Hall’s School, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. There, Matt taught in the School’s Horizons Program before moving to the AD role in 2011. During his entire time at the School, Matt was a part of the School’s Student Life Team, while coaching girls basketball, volleyball, and softball.
Matt earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Union College and a Master’s in Sport Leadership from Northeastern University. Matt married his wife Bridget on October 20, 2012 (the 8 year anniversary of the Red Sox coming back from down 3 games to none to defeat the Yankees) and they have a four-year old Labradoodle, Bailey. Matt enjoys going to the gym, the theater, and outdoor concerts, playing basketball, coffee dates with Bridget, the Red Sox, going to the beach, out with friends, and being with family.
Kristin White
Our new Director of Alumni Relations, Kristin comes to the Hilltop after 21 years at Westover School, in Middlebury, Connecticut. After graduating from Skidmore with a BA in English, she returned to Westover, her high school alma mater, as Assistant Director of Admission and Financial Aid, and soon became the Director of Admission and Financial Aid. After eight years in Admissions, Kristin joined the Westover Development Office, where she served as Director of Annual Giving for three years before planning and launching the School’s first Marketing and Communications Office. As Director of that office, she oversaw all advertising and press relations, managed print and online publications, developed social media campaigns, and oversaw a complete branding overhaul. Since 2003, Kristin has also been a member of the Westover English Department faculty. Kristin enjoys gardening, reading and supporting her children’s basketball teams. She is also working on her MBA through Harvard Extension School. Kristin, her husband Scott, and their two children live in Waterbury.
Terry Williams
Terry is filling in for Daphne Teittinen-Schreck during her maternity leave. She graduated in 2015 from Fairfield with a Masters in School Counseling and is a licensed counselor in Connecticut. She completed her full-year, full-time internship at Norwalk High School and worked there as a long-term substitute counselor until June. Before that, she enjoyed a short stint as an Independent Educational Consultant at Winning Applications in Wilton, and last year was a group counselor with HEAL, based in Westport, where she worked with at-risk girls at Norwalk High School and Joel Barlow. She was recently elected to the Norwalk Education Foundation’s board.
Before she stayed home to raise her two sons, Terry worked in cable television marketing, first for Time Warner at HBO and then at Viacom Networks. Terry lives in Wilton with her husband, Scott, and their two sons. She likes to cook, really likes to eat, and also enjoys hiking and biking, walking her dogs with friends, reading and watching movies, and rooting for the NY Giants.
Haley Wulfman
Haley graduated from Skidmore with a B.A. in art history and studio art, and has nearly completed her M.A. in art education from Teachers College. Haley has experience in both the U.S. and abroad working with museums, private schools, and charter schools, as well as with private arts organizations and artists. She began her art teaching career at the Mandell School in Manhattan, and then at the East Harlem location of Success Academies. While there, she also worked with a team of art teachers to form a partnership with the Guggenheim Museum, for their education team to provide ongoing professional development and monthly in-classroom observations of all art teachers. Haley comes to us most recently from the United Nations International School, where she taught elementary and middle school art, helped create a new course exploring the space between art and ICT (information and communications technology), and explored ways that the arts can help unify people and communities from diverse, even divergent, backgrounds. In her final year, her Open Arms Project (in which her students created open-armed self-portrait artworks displayed in refugee relief centers across Europe) was counted by the school's executive director among the top faculty accomplishments of the year. Haley studied oil painting at the Art Students League of New York, and maintains her own practice of drawing and painting, often exploring architecture and portraiture as themes.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
