News Reporter
On Thursday September 7, 2006 the Forest D. Dorn Chair, one of 18 awards given to teachers who exemplify scholarship, excellence in teaching. and distinguished service to the school, was awarded to Megan Shea. The practice of awarding chairs has come to modern academia from the times of medieval universities, a custom Choate and other schools adopted as a meaningful way to recognize distinguished faculty of past and present. The chairs are named for either a specific donor or an esteemed former member of the Choate faculty. A small stipend and school wide recognition are also among the rewards associated with the ceremonial endowment we all witness at convocation.
This year’s recipient, Megan Shea, has worked at Choate for 15 years, a period in which she has, according to the evening’s citation, devoted herself fully to the community through her jobs as teacher, dean and coach. Before Choate, Shea graduated from Bates College and received a master’s degree in English from Middlebury College.
According to those who know her, Ms. Shea has taken commitments with great zeal and says of her job, “It is knowing kids in and out of class, on and off the field, and across forms that matters most to me.” Many agree. Notes senior Claire Preston, “It still amazes me how well Ms. Shea remembers all of our names three years later. She’s so enthusiastic when she helps out with the girls soccer team, her spirit is enlivening to everyone she comes in contact with.”
Shea says that for her, remembering all pupils at Choate is a way of “connecting with the life of this school and our raison d’etre: the students.” Fellow adults on campus note similar trends in Shea’s achievements; as Dean of Faculty Stephen Farrell notes, “Ms. Shea was a very deserving recipient because of her many and varied commitments to our students and school life.”
Ms. Shea now joins the ranks of honorees before her who she notes have served as role models to her, “They have set a standard of teaching and working in boarding schools that I can only hope to achieve throughout my career.” Ms. Shea humbly notes that her career has never felt like an occupation. In being recognized for her success in this job, Shea feels lucky to have been exposed to the boarding school lifestyle in the first place by her own father, a dedicated member of the faculty at The Canterbury School. As Mr. Farrell said in his address to the school at Convocation, “Like the proverbial acorn, she has not fallen very far from the tree.”
This year, Ms. Shea has stopped deaning and returned to teaching English full-time and will miss her connection as dean to so many of the Choate students.
Megan Shea, the recipient of the Forest D. Dorn Chair.
