Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New SMS Teachers, Staff, Offer Outstanding Credentials
Tappahannock (September 10, 2001) - Low faculty turnover created an opportunity for just a few well-qualified teachers and staff to join the St. Margaret's School community this year. Five new teachers and three new staff join an existing, veteran faculty of more than 30; the school's six most senior educators together have spent over 150 years in the classroom.
Photo left: St. Margaret's Welcomes New Faculty and Staff: Front - Liz Musselman, Elizabeth Johnson, Anna Beth McMahan. Back - Pat Thrift, Cupper Dickinson, Leigh Joseph, Connie Grimm. Not pictured: Sharon Beith.
The first-year employees include experienced parents of teenagers, former substitute teachers, and honors graduates of highly competitive colleges.
Sharon Beith of Howertons works part-time as a piano instructor. Beith is certified to teach music in grades K-12 and is working towards her master's degree in education.
Upper Essex resident Cupper Dickinson, a three-season SMS coach last year, has added assisting teachers to her duties. Dickinson attended St. Mary's College and Virginia Wesleyan College, and has worked as a substitute teacher. She supports the study skills program and will continue to coach the JV volleyball, JV soccer and varsity lacrosse teams.
Connie Grimm of Gloucester serves as math lab teacher. Grimm earned a bachelor's degree from Miami University and professional teaching licensure from Christopher Newport University. Her previous experience includes work as a substitute teacher and as a microbiologist.
Leigh Joseph, a 2001 high honors graduate of Mt. Holyoke College with a degree in history, is teaching geography, government and ESL history; serving as an assistant dormitory head; and helping lead the after-school sailing activity. Joseph spent two summers in England as a counselor in an English as a Second Language program.
Anna Beth McMahan teaches Spanish I and III. McMahan has spent many of her summers at a family home in Burgess. She was graduated with honors from Bryn Mawr College in 1998 with a double major in English and Spanish, and is completing a degree in Colonial US history from the University of North Carolina. McMahan also serves as an assistant dormitory head and helps lead the sailing program.
Although they won't be in the classroom, three other new employees also are making important contributions to St. Margaret's this year. Elizabeth Johnson of Hampton, a British native, serves as dorm parent and study hall proctor. Elizabeth Musselman, daughter of Gene and Wanda Musselman of Tappahannock, holds the newly created position of assistant director for alumnae affairs in the school's Development Office. Pat Thrift, a licensed practical nurse and Warsaw resident, has joined the infirmary staff.
St. Margaret's was founded in 1921 by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. Its mission, "Educating Young Women for Life," is reflected in a college preparatory curriculum and co-curricular activities that equip girls to face the technological, global, intellectual and societal challenges they will encounter in our rapidly changing world.
