Faculty Farewells This June, we’ll say farewell to seven longtime educators, each of whom has served more than 20 years and has meant so much to the AFS community.
Carol Palmer
Emily Paar
Upper School Math Teacher, All-School Math Department Chair, 43 years
Williams Instructor in Science, Upper School, 32 years
By Chris Hunter, Biology and Chemistry Teacher, and Niall Hood, Upper School Math Teacher
By Kristina Denzel Bickford, Upper School Science Teacher, and Rosanne Mistretta, Lower School Science Teacher
personal experiences to help create a sympathetic and empathic space where students can embrace and understand their sexual identity without judgment, and with unconditional acceptance.
For Carol Palmer, the students always come first. She is a nurturing teacher who treats each student as an individual, doing her best to bring out the mathematician within each child. Hundreds of math students have benefitted from her clear, straightforward approach to teaching and her love of puzzles and problem solving. She is a patient, reassuring presence and her teaching draws in even the most reluctant math students. She always seems to know what will engage a student, from the Geometry house-design assignment to the crosscountry basketball pass. There never seems to be a time when Carol’s classroom is empty. Students go there for help and advice, a space to gather for a quiet lunch conversation, or maybe the chance to unwind with a Sudoku puzzle. For many years, Carol’s classroom was also the gathering place for the student Gay/Straight Alliance. She has helped to foster a strong voice for our LGBT community. Using her
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We both had the good fortune to spend many years on the same grade team as Carol. She brought with her an endless list of icebreakers, games and activities. She was also an organizational force, who somehow knew exactly what an entire class of 12th graders would eat for breakfast and the most efficient way to organize an 80-student game of Gotcha. As an advisor, she would patiently strive to understand a problem from all perspectives and then always, always search for a solution that was in the best interest of the student. Carol offers her guidance not only to students, but also to her colleagues. She is there to calmly listen to every question and (seemingly) insurmountable problem and offer a solution founded on wisdom and experience. On committees, she contributes without ego, but instead with grace, kindness and camaraderie. AFS will be a different place without her, but we have no doubt that her legacy will endure within the institution and within the minds and hearts of every student and colleague who has crossed her path.
With a quiet calm and an ever-present smile, Emily Paar has led many students through the complexity and details found in the subject of Chemistry. Though she has taught abstract, challenging material throughout her career, her sense of humor and playful nature have allowed her to create a warm, inviting classroom experience that allows even the most wary student to bravely approach the subject. For many years, her students credited her with “inventing chemistry” because she was so good at it. A strong and consistent proponent of student research, Emily dedicated substantial time and energy to mentoring student Independent Research Projects. Using her encyclopedic knowledge — from acid rain to zooplankton — of