Getting to know you:
10 questions for Jennifer Ciccarelli, CSG’s incoming Head of School WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I grew up in Massachusetts, in a seaside town called Duxbury, which is just 30 minutes south of Boston. WHAT WAS YOUR FAMILY LIKE?
I come from a medium-sized family; I have two brothers and a sister. I am the oldest, and when most people learn that fact they say to me, “Oh, of course, you’re the oldest.” It doesn’t surprise them at all. So I guess I’m known to be a bit bossy. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE A YOUNG GIRL?
I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon. One of my best friend’s father was an orthopedic surgeon, and I thought that being a bone doctor meant that I wouldn’t have to deal with blood, so I thought that I had hit upon a brilliant idea. Interestingly enough, I never planned to be a teacher or an administrator. After orthopedic surgeon, my dream was to become the editor-in-chief at Vogue. My mother is a teacher, so of course I wasn’t going to follow my mother’s career. But after graduating from college (she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wheaton College) I got a teaching internship while working on my Master of Arts in
Incoming Head of School Jennifer M. Ciccarelli sat down with CSG Director of Marketing and Communications Suzanne Bressoud in early January 2014 for an informal chat and a behind-the-scenes look at the woman who will occupy the Mansion’s corner office come July 1, 2014. Ciccarelli is currently the Assistant Director/ Acting Director at The Winsor School, a highly regarded grade 5–12 girls’ school in Boston. She and her husband, Chad, and 3-year-old daughter, Perry, are very much looking forward to their move to Ohio this summer.
Teaching, which allowed me to teach full-time and go to school for my degree in the summer. I found that I absolutely loved teaching. The sense of purpose and meaning that being a teacher gave me was just wonderful, and I felt like I was doing a great thing in the world. As I neared the end of my internship, though, I was still planning to go and work at a magazine in New York City. After interviewing and not getting any magazine job offers, I said to the division head at the school, “Well, now you’re just going to have to hire me.” She replied, “We would love to hire you.” So, that was literally how I got my first permanent teaching job, and I’ve loved every bit of it. HAT IS ONE THING THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO W LEARN ABOUT YOU?
That’s a tough one, because I’m pretty much an open book. But if people don’t know me well yet they are sometimes surprised to learn that I am a synchronized swimmer. I was a competitive swimmer in high school, but the college I attended didn’t have a competitive swim team. They did, however, have a synchronized swim team, so I joined that and I loved it. I competed all through college and I went to nationals a few times. I’m really excited about CSG’s pool because I will swim!
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FORTE ET GRATUM • SPRING 2014