Editors Note: The News considers the new faculty in two articles, the first of which appears below this week. Next week, an article will appear on other new faculty.



Choate regularly hires new teachers every year. This year, eighteen new teachers arrive to take their places in the faculty list, a number that is above the ordinary recruitment of eleven or twelve. The change can be relegated to the above-average departure of staff members last year for a range of reasons from retirement to completing graduate school. Overall, though, there is no net increase in the number of teachers. Choate makes an effort to keep a constant number of teaching faculty.

New Faces on Campus

The new faces in the English Department are Ms. Kate G. Biddiscombe and Mrs. Katharine S. Doak. Additions to the Science Department consist of Ms. Sera J. Coppolino, Mr. James A. Elsworth, Ms. Neferterneken K. Francis, and Ms. Laura Lynn Van Mierlo. Mr. Caleb J. McArthur is the only new faculty to join the Math Department this year. The new additions in the History Department are Samuel Doak and Laurel Waterhouse. The criterion for possible teachers spreads far beyond mere teaching. Many of the applicants are skilled at coaching sports and spend time in dormitories, in addition to their expertise in the classroom. Mr. Stephen Farrell, Dean of Faculty and Assistant Headmaster, says, “It is critical for teachers to like kids, and to like spending time with them…it is much more than Monday through Friday teaching. These teachers have to supervise sports and dorm life with the students. We’re looking for contribution outside the classroom. The most important thing we look for is: do they like kids?”

Choosing the Teachers

Choate carefully selects the best candidate for each position. “The faculty reflects the diversity of the student body”, notes Mr. Farrell. As such, the new teachers are selected from all over the U.S., and several new teachers are even from other countries. While it is not necessary for faculty to have preparatory school experience, many of the new teachers graduated from, or taught at, independent schools like: Phillips Academy Andover, Choate, and Hopkins School. The competition for the best teachers is quite close. With more than one thousand applications, the selection pool is narrowed to the three strongest applicants for each position. They are then brought to campus, where the Department Head, Dean of Students, Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Faculty, and the Athletic Director interview these potential faculty members and select the new staff.

Though highly selective in the new staff, Choate also stands out for a prospective teacher with many other options. Mrs. Doak explains: “I felt a sense of community…and a camaraderie and humor in the faculty.” She arrives from The Lawrenceville School, where she taught English, bringing her skills to the English 100 class for freshmen. Furthermore, Ms. Francis “heard a lot of good things about this school [Choate].” A faculty member at Andover, she continues to teach Chemistry here at Choate, in the Chemistry 300 course.

Teachers Bring Fresh Ideas

Each teacher has individual aims that they wish to bring to Choate. Ms. Francis seeks to “be a role model for students, as a black female in the sciences.” Besides teaching in class, however, each teacher has other talents they wish to instill in the Choate community. Ms. Doak’s passion for the theater has caused her to take a prominent role in the “thriving theatrical community at Choate, lending a hand to connect students to the Paul Mellon Arts Center.” Ms. Francis has a goal to bring hip-hop dance, which she taught at Andover, to Choate. Mr. McArthur, who taught at Hopkins School before he came to Choate, has a goal to “bring an excitement about the world of ideas and an eagerness to share that excitement.” Apparently, this goal is realized, since within a mere two weeks of school, Seunghye (Sabrina) Shin ’10 says, “Perhaps the only reason I survive math is Mr. McArthur’s unpredictably witty comments. When a girl burst out of her seat in the middle of the class because she found gum stuck to her pants, Mr. McArthur uttered his words of wisdom, ‘Good thing you don’t need pants for math...But do continue to keep them on, please.’”

Making Students Participate

Not only do the teachers seek to bring their knowledge, wisdom, and experiences to students, they expect the students to also contribute. All teachers expect students to be motivated and hard-working, to have high academic standards. Mr. McArthur states “I don’t expect anything of the Choate students other than a willingness to learn, to explore their excellences. Teaching is a dialog that teachers and students create together. High School level mathematics doesn’t change much, but this dialog is dynamic, and that is what makes teaching fun.” So far, the teachers are all pleased with what they have experienced. Their expectations of students have come to pass, and Ms. Doak adds that not only are students hardworking and diligent, they are “surprisingly modest and intellectually humble.”

Alumnus Returns

Mr. Elsworth, a ’01 Choate Graduate, has returned to Choate as a teacher. Choate is much as he remembered, but he says, “it is really different to be on the other side of things; I get to call my former teachers by their first names now.”

Two identical three-year-old boys race out of Spencer House in their skivvies and proceed to enthusiastically greet every passing Choate student. A man chasing after the boys catches up and leads them back inside with an amused expression. This is Samuel Doak, Choate’s newest Economics and World History teacher.

Coming From Lawrenceville

Doak, a Connecticut native, recently moved back to Connecticut after living in New Jersey for a while. Before coming to Choate, he lived on the Lawrenceville campus, where his wife, Kate Doak—a new English teacher this year—then worked. He taught at the Hun School of Princeton, the same courses he now teaches at Choate. Doak attributes the move back to Connecticut partially to family reasons: all of his relations live in the area, and the commute from New Jersey was difficult and inconvenient, he says.

He adds that the adjustment period has been very smooth, especially for his twin boys, Wiley and Gavin. “They’re pretty rambunctious; I think they’ve made a bit of a name for themselves around campus.”

As well as coaching boys’ lacrosse in the spring, Doak hopes to become involved in Choate’s Ultimate Frisbee team. He played a high level of competition at Oberlin College and local leagues, and looks forward to throwing the disc around once again. He is quick to point out that Oberlin was “a nationally ranked Ultimate Frisbee team; we went to the national tournament and placed 18th!”

West Wing Gets a New Addition

For another addition to the History Department, combine strong athletics with love of history and the result is Laurel Waterhouse. Waterhouse, age 24, is Choate’s new U.S. History and Contemporary Issues teacher and the newest inhabitant of West Wing 3.

Originally from upstate New York, Waterhouse graduated from Lafayette College before going on to teach at the Taft School for one year. Though she had never planned on being a teacher, Waterhouse says, “As long as I’m happy with what I’m doing, then I don’t see any reason for leaving. And I’m really happy with where I am right now, at Choate.”

Like most of Choate’s faculty, Waterhouse has a wide array of interests. Athletics, she says, is her main focus. Having rowed in college, Waterhouse is now coaching the novice crew boys. Her other sports of choice are basketball, waterskiing, surfing and hiking.

In the future, Waterhouse plans on utilizing these passions—including several smaller ones, such as cooking, figure skating, and art—for the Choate community. She adds that she is interested in becoming a faculty advisor to an extracurricular student club. First, however, Waterhouse plans to get her footing on campus and focus on her chief responsibilities—her rowers, her advisees, and her new geography—before spreading her multifaceted talents across Choate.