This has been a busy summer at HA. While the
students have been frolicking in the pool and lounging on the beach, Mrs.
Boothe, members of the lower school faculty, and I have spent much of our time interviewing
and hiring a number of new teachers.
Consequently, I thought I would fill everyone in on the teachers who
have chosen to join the Houston Academy family for next school year.
Extended Day Program Director
Emily Granger
Emily Granger will be our new Extended Day Program (EDP) Director. Ms. Granger has an Associate of Science degree in early childhood
education from Wallace College and is currently enrolled at Troy-Dothan,
working on her B.S. degree. Emily comes with outstanding credentials and substantial
experience running after-school programs. I expect our daycare to be interactive
and educationally oriented.
Emily has a daughter named Olivia
Anne, who is going into the third grade. She also has a dachshund named Mille,
who Olivia views as her “sister.” Emily enjoys crafting with Olivia, junking
flea markets, antiquing, watching Auburn football games, playing tennis, and
reading.
Lower School Physical Education
Ginny Adams
Mrs. Adams is a certified teacher
with a degree from Auburn University-Montgomery, and she is also a certified United
States Tennis Association tennis professional. In addition to her 20 years of
teaching in public schools, Ginny has spent the last two years working at HA as
a teaching assistant and our as our JV tennis coach. In addition, many of our
students have been taking tennis lessons from her over the past two years.
Personally, in my capacity as a "tennis parent," I've been
thrilled with how well she has worked with our children as a coach. We
expect great things from her in PE, as well.
Ginny is married to Scott Adams, and
she has two children Sissy, a rising 7th grader at HA and Will, a ninth grader
at Northside Methodist Academy. In her spare time, Ginny enjoys reading,
playing, teaching and coaching tennis, and going to the beach.
3 Year-old Preschool
Chera Lee
Chera Lee will be our new 3P teacher.
Mrs. Lee has a B.S. in Early Childhood
Education from the University of Alabama. Previously, she has taught 2P, 3P,
4P, kindergarten, and 2nd grade. Additionally, Mrs. Lee has
served as a teaching assistant and tutor and Grandview Elementary here in
Dothan. Previously, she taught at Brookwood Forest Elementary and Grantswood
Elementary in Birmingham. Chera is meticulous and assiduous, and has been a
fantastic volunteer here at HA.
Chera is married to Stuart Lee, and
she has two children who attend HA – Douglas is in 3P and Mary Lawrence is in
kindergarten. Her interests include running, reading, shopping, baking with her
children, and spending time with family and friends.
Kindergarten
Cara Dennis
Cara Dennis will be teaching kindergarten
this year. Cara was a member of the first third grade class at Houston Academy
in 1970. She graduated from The University of Alabama with a degree in early
childhood education and received her masters from Troy University in early
childhood education.
Cara has been married to Mark Dennis for 29
years. They have 4 children, 3 of whom have graduated from Houston Academy.
Carolyne is 23 and is a nurse at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. Catie (21)
and Jackson (18) are both students at Auburn University. Sam is 9 and is going
to be in the third grade at Houston Academy. Cara is a member of First United
Methodist Church, and she loves to spend time at the beach with her family.
Tiffany Sulsberger
Tiffany
Sulsberger holds a B.S. in
Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University with an endorsement in
Mathematics. She also earned an M.A. in Secondary Biology from Western
Governors University.
Tiffany’s
hometown (Rome, Georgia) is very near my old “stomping ground” in Northwest Georgia. Last September, her husband, Scott, took a
position with Hornsby Tire Distributors and they were relocated to Dothan. Tiffany’s
two children both attend HA. Her daughter, Lauren, will be in 5K, and her son,
Ryan, will be in 3P.
Anne Zeron
Anne Zeron will be our new 5K teacher
assistant. Mrs. Zeron grew up in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and graduated from
The University of Alabama where she met her husband, Bryan. Anne moved to Dothan three years ago from
Jacksonville, Florida where she worked as a teacher’s assistant at St Mark’s
Episcopal Day School.
Anne has two children, Mary Blake and
George. In between running her kids from
activity to activity, she enjoy reading, exercising, and spending time with her
family, which includes her dog, Oliver.
Learning Specialist
Lauren Thomas
Lauren Thomas is joining us this year as our Learning
Specialist. She graduated from Auburn University (Magna Cum Laude) with an M.S.
and B.S. in Communication Disorders from Auburn University. While working on
her Masters Degree, she received the Outstanding Graduate Clinician Award, as
selected by the professors and faculty at Auburn. She has also received Orton-Gillingham
certification, which allows Lauren to work with students with dyslexia and other
reading issues.
Ms. Thomas grew up in Dothan. She is the
daughter of Jim and Pam Thomas. Lauren
loves Auburn football, going to Braves games, and running.
Upper School Learning Specialist and Registrar
Pamela Sewell
Pamela Sewell is joining the HA staff as the
Registrar and Upper School Learning Lab Learning Specialist. Mrs. Sewell taught in both public and private
schools in Mobile and Phenix City for 10 years.
She taught special education, academic enrichment, algebra, geometry, and
world history. Mrs. Sewell has a B.S. in
health education from Florida State University and an M.Ed in specific learning
disabilities from University of South Alabama.
Pamela was born in Dothan, but grew up in
Panama City, Florida. Mrs. Sewell is
married to Dr. Joseph Sewell II and they have two children, Dr. Joseph H.
Sewell III (a 2006 graduate of HA) who is in his second year of residency at
University of South Alabama Medical Center and Ryan, who is currently in the
ninth grade at Houston Academy. In her
spare time, Mrs. Sewell enjoys spending time with family and friends,
traveling, and going to sporting events
3rd Grade
Jo Ellen Nelson
Ms. Nelson will be one of our third grade
teachers this year. She holds a B.S.
from University of Alabama and an M.A. from Troy University in Elementary
Education. Jo Ellen has worked as a third grade teacher and Instructional Coach
in Dothan City Schools. Basically, Jo Ellen has been working with other
teachers to improve their own teaching. Jo Ellen has a great deal of passion
for children and for education.
On the personal front, Jo Ellen has three
children: Joe, who is a world history teacher and head soccer coach and varsity
academic coach at Northview; Sara, who is a senior at Troy University pursuing
a medical career; and Virginia, who will be starting at Tuscaloosa this fall to
pursue her dream of becoming a special education teacher. Jo Ellen loves to
exercise (she ran the 2014 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta), to garden, and to
read. One day, she hopes to write a children’s book!
5th Grade
Erin Barragry
Erin Barragry comes to us from Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. She attended the University
of Minnesota where she received both her B.S. and M.S. in education and was a
member of Rho Lambda Honor Society. For
those of you who are not familiar, the University of Minnesota has one of the
top schools of education in the United States. Moreover, we are very excited
about the technology skills and experience she will bring to H.A.
Ms. Barragry is looking forward to a new (and
warmer) adventure here in Dothan. Outside of school, she loves to golf, hike,
camp, travel, play games, and bake. Other interests include country music and
going to football games.
6th Grade
Lisa Cohen
Lisa Cohen will be teaching 6th
grade next year. She is joining us from Jacobson Sinai Academy in Miami,
Florida, where she was a 6th and 7th grade teacher. Lisa
graduated Cum Laude with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from New
Jersey City University. Currently, she is enrolled in an Educational Master’s
program in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on digital leaning. Not
surprisingly, Mrs. Cohen is excited about H.A.’s technology initiative and
looks forward to using her technology integration skills in the classroom.
Outside of school, Mrs. Cohen has been a
teacher of martial arts for many years. She currently holds the rank of Senior
Master as a 6th degree black belt. She also is very committed to
working with various charitable organizations, but her greatest source of pride
is her children. She and her husband, Melvyn, love to travel.
Sandra Egan
Sandra Egan will teach our third section of 6th
grade this year. Ms. Egan holds a B.S. in Education from the University of
Houston with an additional certification in teaching talented and gifted
children. Most recently, she taught 5th and 6th grades in
Corpus Christi, Texas. Earlier in her
career, she was named teacher of the year at her school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sandra has come to Dothan due to her husband’s
relocation with his job at Boeing.
Sandra is married to Bill Egan, and they have
two children. John is 24 and is in graduate school at the University of
Texas-Austin, and Brittany is 21 and is a dental assistant in Corpus Christi,
Texas. Brittany is getting married in
May 30, 2015! Sandra enjoys scrapbooking, jewelry making, and gardening.
Upper School Chorus and Music
Julie Arthur
Julie Arthur will take over our extraordinarily successful chorus program. Julie has a B.A. in Music with an emphasis in Musical Education from Azusa Pacific University (CA), and an M.A. in Music, with an emphasis in coral conducting from San Jose State University.
Julie possesses strong qualifications to lead any instrumental or choral program. She has strong experience as a classroom teacher AND as a private music instructor. She has helped organize and run a high school and junior college choral festival and has organized performance opportunities for her private students. Julie's youth ensemble (through the Smith Academy of Singers) successfully performed with the Imperial Valley Master Chorale, as well as in a concert of its own. As a conductor she conducted the world premier of “Our Father, Lord and Shepherd” by Phil Shakleton, and she recently conducted a group of singers on stage with the Rolling Stones! We are also very excited that she is an accomplished strings performer, and we plan on adding a strings program here at HA. When we do so, we will have the only strings program in the Wiregrass.
Julie is from a very small town in California. She and her husband, Peter, just got married last July, and they spent their first year of marriage living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Julie loves having tea parties and traveling the world, and her hobby is learning languages. She does not have any children, yet, but she is "dying to get a puppy!"
Mrs. Holman, Mrs. Boothe, and I could not be
more pleased with the hires we have made this spring and summer. We have been
lucky enough to find people who are not only outstanding in their field, but
also have a passion for young people. Please join me in welcoming this
outstanding group of new teachers to the HA family!
