Message from the Head of School

Archived Letters
January, 2005
March, 2005
September, 2005
August, 2006
December 2006

Books by K. Bohlin

Teaching Character Education Through Literature (London: Routledge, 2005)
Citizenship and Higher Education (London: Routledge, 2005)
Building Character in Schools (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999)
Building Character in Schools Resource Guide (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001)

August 23, 2006

Dear Montrose Parents,

I hope this letter finds you enjoying these last few weeks of summer. We are eager to see your daughters again on Wednesday, September 6, the first day of school. On Tuesday, September 5, we will welcome our thirty-three new students and their parents to Montrose School at New Student Orientation.

It has been an exciting summer at Montrose. Our students have been sharing news of their summer language home-stay experiences abroad and of their outstanding academic, leadership and camp programs. We will collect and feature these stories in our next issue of Montrose Memos.

The new school year brings a number of fresh starts. Our newest Montrose alumnae are preparing to begin their university studies at St Joseph’s College, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, Mount Holyoke, Stanford University, University of Notre Dame, College of the Holy Cross, Framingham State College, Sacred Heart University and Bridgewater State. Please keep the Class of 2006 in your prayers at this important juncture in their lives.

We have a wonderful team of new teachers joining the Montrose faculty this year. You will find a short introduction to each one enclosed. We also launch our new Montrose academic day schedule—designed explicitly to support learning and teaching and provide more flexibility for both students and teachers.

We will celebrate our groundbreaking in Medfield with a short program on Friday evening, September 8. Please see our website for periodic updates and photos on renovation progress. Special thanks are in order for Neil Jacob, chairman of the board of trustees, who has been on site daily in Medfield since June, working closely with Nauset Construction and Robert Olson and Associates Architects. We have a dynamic professional team preparing our new school in Medfield. Stay tuned for information on our January move-in plan.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment. The year ahead promises to be “groundbreaking” in many ways, and we look forward to working with you to make it one of the very best years yet for your daughters and your family.

With warmest regards,
Karen E. Bohlin

New Faculty

Ellen Baker
Ellen Baker has been a part-time advisor at Montrose School for nearly ten years. She earned her BA in education from the University of Dallas and began her career as a classroom teacher. While raising her children, she opted to work part-time in a variety of free-lance positions including work as a substitute teacher, advisor, director of summer camps and as a consultant for small businesses. We are delighted she will bring her rich experience to Montrose School full-time, serving as our new Director of Advising and Student Life. Mrs. Baker will also teach middle school religion and help to develop our Parent Enrichment Programs.

Serena Banden
Serena Banden gained extensive laboratory experience and honed her passion for the scientific method while earning her BS in behavioral neuroscience at Northeastern University. As a peer tutor and classroom coach, Serena has worked with undergraduate science students and has taught material from a broad array of courses in both the science and math departments. She has also served as a tutor trainer. Her position as a research assistant in the Visual Neuroscience Laboratory focused on dark adaptation in mice and the neural regeneration of zebrafish and has resulted in a publication and an undergraduate thesis. She is excited to bring her enthusiasm for the subject and graduate level laboratory experience to our eleventh grade Chemistry students.

Melanie Belcher
Melanie Belcher received her Bachelor’s degree from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. She majored in English and minored in history and was a member of the Honors Program in the Great Books of Western Civilization. She completed her middle and high school student teaching as an undergraduate and has since been an English teacher in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Melanie’s passion for teaching moved her to work as a curriculum designer and tutor for a home-schooling program, and to tutor in a community after-school program. She is an avid volunteer and has most recently worked for the Relay for Life to raise money for cancer research. We are delighted to have Melanie join our faculty to teach our eighth, ninth and tenth grade English courses, and to serve as Yearbook advisor.

Erin Jackson
Erin Jackson earned her BA in history and education from Hampshire College. She also completed a minor in English. Her thesis examined the turn of the century labor movement in the local textile industry and incorporated a myriad of primary sources. She has served as an assistant teacher in several capacities and has experience working with young women in the classroom as well as over five summers as Head Counselor at a camp. She is a poet and earned a national distinction this summer for her work. Most recently she has worked as a coordinator at National Evaluation Systems where she arranged alternative testing arrangements for teaching certificate candidates. Erin will be teaching seventh grade Literature, Language Arts and Civics as well as tenth grade United States History.

Kathleen McCann
Kathleen McCann earned her BA in philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. She earned her MA in English from the University of Dallas and has completed her coursework for a PhD in English. She is committed to liberal arts education and has developed curriculum, worked with university students and taught at the secondary level. Most recently, she worked in France, where she lived and taught at a college preparatory boarding school for boys. She is a musician who has taught music and conducted polyphonic choirs. She is also an avid traveler who is passionate about history and its impact on current political and cultural change. Ms. McCann will be teaching World Literature, Modern European History and 20th Century History.

Heather Osborne
Heather Osborne received her BS in anthropology with a minor in zoology from Connecticut College. She has also completed coursework for her MA in Teaching from the College of Notre Dame, Maryland. A traveler and participant in archeological excavations, her interest in scientific exploration has taken her to Kenya and various locations in the United States. More recently, Heather taught all high school levels of Biology at an independent college preparatory school in Maryland. We are excited to have her on board to teach our ninth and tenth grade Biology classes as well as the twelfth grade AP Biology course.

Alexandra Pence
Alexandra Pence earned her BA in philosophy from Boston College. She has taught CCD courses for several years in the Boston area and has also worked as a teacher’s aide in her native Minnesota. As an undergraduate, she was active in several campus organizations, including the St. Thomas More Society and the Women’s Faith Group, and for three years served as vice-president of the BC Partnership for Life. Alexandra is an accomplished trombone player and put her talents to use as a member of BC’s Screaming Eagles Marching Band. Alexandra completed some pre-med coursework as an undergraduate and spent five summers working as a horticulturalist. She has a passion for science and has worked most recently for the Cambridge BioMarketing Group. She will teach Life Science 7, Religion 8, Theology 9, Theology 10 and coordinate our Leadership at the Service of Life program.

Mara Vatz
Mara Vatz earned both a BS in electrical engineering and a BA in philosophy from Tufts University. She completed her MS at MIT, and is a freelance science writer with published work in MIT’s Technology Review, The Atlantic Monthly Online, and other journals. Most recently she worked for Harvard Business School, as a research associate preparing case studies. She has taught all levels of math and science, served as philosophy teaching assistant and coached high school tennis. She will be teaching Physical Science 8, Algebra I A, Pre-Calculus Honors and AP Calculus (with Kasia Weyman). Former Editor in Chief of the Tufts Observer, a first-rate student journal, Mara will also work with students on our school newspaper, The Looking Glass.