The Puzzle: Blog

We are thrilled and honored to partner with The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) for the third summer to award four new boarding school teachers who we placed at their respective schools a grant to attend a virtual TABS Summer Session this July.

Fellows represent a variety of boarding schools from across the country, including Deerfield Academy (MA), Loomis Chaffee School (CT), Webb School (TN), and Phillips Academy (MA).

TABS Summer Sessions are a series of integrated professional development workshops taught by a dynamic and diverse group of proven boarding school leaders. Grant recipients were able to choose between two of offerings relevant to new educators: “Now Boarding” which offers a robust examination of working on a boarding school campus, or “New Teacher Institute” which is designed specifically for the new boarding school teacher and includes the opportunity to present a lesson and receive rounds of constructive critique by the experienced faculty.

Sloane Meyer, Carney Sandoe's Director of New Graduate Programs, will also be leading a session during “Now Boarding” which will discuss how working at a boarding school sets the stage for a rich and varied career in education.

Each of these four new boarding school educators were exceptional candidates with us and represent high ambition, authenticity, and character. We are happy to present them with this professional development opportunity as they begin their journey into education.

2022 Summer Fellows

Kena Chavva
DEERFIELD ACADEMY, MA

Kena grew up in New Jersey and attended Barnard College in New York City, where she graduated in 2022 with honors and a degree in English. At Barnard, she worked at the Writing Center, hosted a show on her college’s radio station, and wrote her thesis on a Telugu-language translation of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. In her senior year, she was recognized through the W. Cabell Greet Prize for excellence in the study of English, as well as through the Friedman Belfer Writing Fellow Award and the Erica Mann Jong ’63 Writing Fellow Endowment Award for her work at the Writing Center. She is passionate about helping students develop their own positive relationships with reading, writing, and speech, as well as reframing the hegemony of the English language. She is delighted to join the community at Deerfield Academy as the Penn Fellow in the English Department.

Katharine Conklin
LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL, CT

Katharine Conklin recently graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College with departmental honors in Education. Her thesis, “BIPOC Students’ Experiences with Mentoring and Community in an Elite Boarding School,” attends to notions of sense of belonging and the development of trusting relationships formed between students and adult mentors. She has taught as a peer tutor at Wellesley College and an intern at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. Now enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, Katharine will begin working in the History, Philosophy, & Religious Studies Department at the Loomis Chaffee School in the fall as a Penn Fellow. She is thrilled to be joining a learning community committed to education for “the best self and the common good.” When not working in or thinking about schools, Katharine enjoys reading, running, and cooking with her family.

Jack Franko
THE WEBB SCHOOL, TN

Jack is a recent magna cum laude graduate of the College of William and Mary, earning a B.B.A. in Business Analytics with a concentration in Finance. He has spent the last six summers serving as a counselor and lead counselor at residential boarding camps in the mountains of western Virginia. Jack is a graduate of St. Christopher’s School in Richmond. Starting this fall, he will begin teaching high school math and economics at The Webb School of Tennessee. In addition to teaching, Jack will serve in the school’s athletic department and residential life program.

Analisa Sevilla
PHILLIPS ACADEMY, MA

Analisa is a recent graduate of Hamilton College where she studied Hispanic Studies and Linguistics. Having spent the past two summers tutoring math, heritage Spanish, and Spanish 1 with the TRIO Upward Bound program at the University of Montevallo, Analisa is eager to learn more from a new position in the classroom at Phillips Academy Andover starting this fall as a Spanish Teaching Fellow. As a heritage Spanish speaker and the product of three generations of educators, Analisa is looking forward to sharing her passion for the language and cultures while building meaningful relationships with students as a teacher and a house counselor.

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