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The PANEL
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Belmont Hill School Volume 63, Issue 2
A Student Publication ofthe Belmont Hill School
June 2, 2014
English Department Head Doctor Steams Leaves Behind Astounding Legacy By
Yohannes Mezgebu
&
JJ Onyeukwu Staff Writers The hour of the interview had come, and with utmost respect and some hasty preparation under our belts, we undertook the humbling task of interviewing Doc Stearns. “Tell us a joke.” Meant to break the ice of awkward tension that precedes such interviews, we soon realized that wed opened with more of a challenge. “Tell you a joke?” she asked with surprise. We encouraged her to tell us a knock-knock joke, hoping we hadn’t just botched the conversation: ‘Okay,’ she replied: “Knock Knock” “Who’s there?” “Boo” “800 who?” Our laughs at the familiar released our anxiety. Even joke Doc’s backstory to the joke revealed the pleasure she derives from teaching. As part of an autobiographical assignment one
of her ninth graders had told a story of being with his family “on a cruise and there was a stand up comic. He was five years old or something, and his dad made him go up, take the microphone, and tell a knockknock
Stearns now finds herself a sixteen-year veteran at Belmont Hill and the head of the English department. During college she first honed in on her lifelong passion for reading and began to focus
joke.” Doc’s memory of the story connected to her own surprise at being chal-
lenged
to
tell a joke, but it also reflected how careshe fully attends to her students’ writing and personal experiences. It exemplified her character and sparked our curiosity, just who is this gifted teacher and what brought her here? Her journey began in a small town in Illinois consisting of a few thousand people, Doc
on writing while evaluating what other people’s words meant to her. “It wasn’t until college that I started really sort of understanding what literature could give you and that drew me in,” she explained. After she graduated from Beloit College and began writing and
teaching, Dr. Stearns eventually made her way to BB&N, but followed fate’s path when she heard of an opening at Belmont Hill. She recalls the application process: “I was interviewed by bunch of different people, but I remember that I had no experl e n c e with boys’ schools at all, and I remember thinking it might be a deal breaker; but then I came in and someone had arranged for me to meet with a group of students, and I had a great conversation with those students, and I think that’s what really brought me to Belmont Hill.” She stayed at the school so many years because of the bonds she developed with her students and colleagues. People
are the source of her passion, the font of inspiration for her teaching and her own writing. And her students reciprocate her affection, holding her kindness, mastery of English, and dedication and passion to teaching in high esteem. Over her years at Belmont Hill, Doc Stearns worked not only as an English teacher but also as a College Counselor and Advisor. In these roles she engaged with her students individually and meaningfully. Eric Kim, of the current senior class, recalls how when he had her for American Literature: “it didn’t matter what the class was reading or discussing, whether it was about the banality of evil or spam [ham in a can] --it was always a good time in M 18”, Doc’s classroom. Past and present students recount how her classes impacted them in and out of the classroom. When asked, Mathias Asheber and Jack Tamasi describe how “she takes time to speak individually to each student about their work. She critiques everyone’s work with diligence and compassion, but she is also willing to listen to her students. continued on page 2
Long-Tenured Physics Teacher Mr. Hoffman Exits School with Excellent Reputation to their overwhelming By Andres
Fernandez Castillo Staff Writer
del
One of Belmont Hill’s most interesting and valuable traits is the diversity of the teachers, not specifically in culture, but in character. Perhaps it’s in the profession, that only the most distinctive of personalities are drawn to the ever-changing rigors of education; perhaps the quirkiness is unique to our campus. Regardless, it’s wonderful; the various teachers expose us to not only different cultural upbringings or mannerisms, but also
intelligence,
the kind where you occasionally have to step back and think to yourself, “this persons mind just works on a different level than mine does.” We have so many examples, present and past, to consider: the retired Mr. Brodie, with his thoughtful, and at times baffling, mastery of the prose and poetry that influenced our modern times; Dr. Wachtmeister, splitting his time between the family farm and the Biology classroom, dictating in his southern drawl the intricacies of the the cell to each new set of sophomores; or Dr. Fast,
Departing Faculty p 2 &3 Faculty Chair
P 5
p
Prize Day Awards 6 &7
ISL Champions p 10
Matriculation List P 12
of Montana, he studied forestry, before deciding “a lifetime of staring at trees might not be as fun as I thought” and switching his major to zoology, where he got his degree. His passion, however, was in aviation, in the beauty of a solidly built, well flown plane. Partly because of his sense of duty for the nation and partly because he was worried hed be drafted directly into the infantry ofAmericas Vietnam forces, he had enrolled in the ROTC program for his stay at Montana, which actually allowed him to choose the Air Force rather than the infantry. He went to
pilot’s school for a stay, getting his license before being sent to Vietnam, in which he ferried troops and supplies as a helicopter pilot near the Mekong (not, as he had hoped, as an aviator). After a year’s action (including the hellish Tet Offensive, the turning point of the war), he returned home to a brief stint as a flight instructor before continuing his education with various classes in physics at Wesleyan and Trinity, before getting his Masters in secondary education at B.C. From there he went directly into teaching. continued on page 2
Senora Whitney Departs After Twenty-Nine Years of Service By Jay
Look Inside
with his reverential adoration for literature and ever present grin, as he intersperses his classes with quotations from Milton and anecdotes from China. We are, quite unfortunately, losing another of one these fantastic people as this school year closes: Mr. Richard Hoffman, who, after 24 years of teaching at Belmont Hill, will be moving to join his wife at the Agnes Irwin School of Rosemont, Pennsylvania, where he will continue to teach physics. Mr. Hoffman didn’t originally study to become a physics teacher. At his alma mater, the University
O’Brien Panel Staff
Over the past three decades, several generations of students and faculty have walked through the halls of Belmont Hill in an everchanging process, resulting in new faces that make up the school’s identity. Yet within this time period, Ms. Whitney’s presence at the school has remained a constant. As a teacher, coach, advisor, and mentor, Ms. Whitney has formed close bonds with many Belmont Hill students who have had the great fortune of being her disciples in the classroom or on the sports field. Ms. Whitney became the longest-tenured female faculty member at the school, where she has taught Spanish 1 and 3, as well as Spanish Culture and Communication. Alas, 2013-2014 was Ms. Whitney’s last year at the school, and she looks forward to new oppor-
tunities that the future may bring. Before stepping onto the Belmont Hill campus as a new faculty member in the 1980’s, Ms. Whitney received her Bachelor’s Degree from George Washington University, and spent several years working at Kimball Union Academy, a boarding school in New Hampshire. During her twenties, Ms. Whitney taught skiing at Sugarbush with the director of the ski school who also worked at Portillo, a ski resort in Chile; consequently, Ms. Whitney spent two and a half years in Chile teaching people to ski. Following her return to the United States, Ms. Whitney was looking to work at a day school in the Massachusetts area, although a job teaching boys at Belmont Hill was not the first that came to mind. When Ms. Whitney called Mr. Wadsworth, an old friend who at the time was continued on page 3