Chelsea Kolff - 11th Biology

Hello! It's been great to read everyone's posts - I look forward to meeting you all soon! I feel a bit like Jennifer that I'm cheating a little by being on here; I actually starting teaching 11th grade biology at Westminster at the end of September last year. I originally subbed for a teacher who ended up not being able to return, so here I am! I'm excited to start school as an official member of the faculty.

My history with Westminster goes back to the first day of seventh grade, when I officially became a Wildcat! In addition to being a Wildcat, I'm also a Princeton Tiger at heart. I graduated from Princeton in 2009 with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a certificate in Theater and Dance. I've taught dance at the Westminster Summer Theater Intensive and been involved with the extracurricular theater program since I graduated in 2005, which is what originally drew me back to Westminster when I returned to Atlanta.

Next year, I'll be teaching regular Biology again in addition to one section of AP Environmental Science. I'm also excited to be the faculty adviser for the newly re-established Dance Club in the high school in addition to my work in the theater program. This summer, I taught dance in June, and I've gotten to spend most of July with my mom and sisters in upstate New York. I've been doing lots of sailing, baking, and playing my sister's new favorite game Bananagrams, which is like a board-less version of Scrabble. I also took an AP Summer Institute for environmental science, so I've been doing (or at least, trying to do) a lot of prep work for that class - at this point just reading our textbook!

I hope everyone enjoys their last week of the summer!

Hi from a new history teacher!

Hello everyone! My name is Christine and I'll be teaching US History and Modern World History in the high school next year. I'm super excited as this is going to be my first full year teaching position! I graduated in 2009 from Wash U after completing the teacher education program where I student-taught, etc. Then I spent this past year getting my masters in history at Yale, which was such an amazing experience. I just moved to Atlanta a week ago and I'm loving it already! if there's anyone else that's new to the area and wants to explore around, just let me know!

In terms of hobbies, I love to travel. This May I went with a friend of mine to visit our friend who is working in Lima and explore around Peru (that's the three of us at Machu Picchu - I'm on the left). Since that visit, I really want to go back and visit other parts of South America. I'm a New Yorker and thus a huge fan of the New York Yankees and baseball in general, so I figure I can give the Braves a shot since they're in the NL. I also love to bake and I'm trying to learn to cook, though it's a slow learning process. Anyways, I can't wait to meet you all in a week!

My name is Katherine Hicks and this will be my second year at Westmi nster teaching chemistry. I graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2008 with a B.S. in chemistry after transferring from the University of Georgia in 2006. I again graduated from KSU in the summer of 2009 with a Master of Arts in science education. I am a native of the Atlanta area and bleed red and black on gamedays (sorry Owls!). My son, Jack, turned 4 earlier this year and can tell you anything you ever need to know about construction, construction equipment, and fire trucks. A future engineer, perhaps?

My first year here at Westminster has been rewarding on so many levels, and I especially had a blast teaching summer school this year! I am a firm believer in the power of student choice and try my best to maintain a sense of practicality in what I teach. This year I will be a co-sponsor of the Robotics team and am so excited to see what the team can accomplish. It’s going to be fun to learn along with the kids!

I look forward to meeting you all very soon, and hope that everyone has had a relaxing summer!