This year, Groton is welcoming nine new faculty members to the Circle. While they come from a variety of locations and backgrounds, they are all excited to share their knowledge and experiences with the community. Some of the new faculty (ie., fellows) will spend only a year teaching at Groton. 

Drew Evans – Physics Fellow

Drew Evans is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and says he plans on “spending every Sunday watching the Atlanta Falcons game.” As one of Groton’s new teaching fellows, he will teach two sections of Regular Physics, where he hopes to “inspire excitement in people about physics.” Mr. Evans’ interests are not confined to physics, however; he hopes to attend law school in the future. 

Sabrina Gilchrist – English

Veteran teacher Sabrina Gilchrist will contribute a depth of experience in both English and dance. While earning her Ph.D, Dr. Gilchrist simultaneously taught composition, technical writing, and literature classes; later, she held positions at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Culver Academies. In terms of dance, she taught at En Avant School of Dance and coached a dance team at Eau Claire Regis High School. Dr. Gilchrist explained that she chose to come to Groton because she “wanted to get back to coaching and to develop closer ties to my students.”  

Gareth Hadyk-DeLodder – English

Gareth Hadyk-DeLodder, another English teacher, is “a pretty big soccer fan, so [he] is happy to discuss European soccer regularly.” Similar to his partner Dr. Gilchrist, he has a wide range of teaching experience — he taught at Culver Academies, a high school in La Rioja, Spain and at the University of Florida while a graduate student. 

Zara Williams-Nicholas – Math Fellow

Groton will be Zara Williams-Nicolas’ first teaching position post-college; they will teach differential calculus for the Fall Term. Outside of teaching, Ms. Williams-Nicolas “loves dance and movement in general,” as “thinking about dance in terms of shapes and timing/spatial patterns often helps [them] understand a movement’s quality.” 

Celene Ibrahim – Philosophy and Religious Studies

Celene Ibrahim, who will teach Sacred Texts, Comparative Religion, and Ethics, authored One Nation, Indivisible and The Women of the Qur’an (to be released in 2020). When she is not teaching, Dr. Ibrahim says that she “lectures regularly all around the United States and sometimes internationally.” 

Gil Birney – Chaplain

Groton’s new interim chaplain, and Sacred Texts teacher, Gil Birney is no stranger to Episcopalian preparatory schools; he has already worked at Brooks School, Hoosac School, and St. Paul’s School. More recently, he served as the Head Coach of Men and Women’s Crew at Bowdoin for 22 years before retiring in July 2018. Jokingly, he refers to his decision to come to Groton as his “sabbatical from retirement.” He says he “looks forward to closing the circle of [his] working years by returning to school ministry in a storied school with a distinguished faculty and lively student body!”

Elsa Clement – French

Incoming French 3 teacher Elsa Clement brings relevant experience transcending the traditional classroom environment; she was a pharmacist in France for 10 years. Since then, she has “taught a number of French courses for both children and adults at the Acton Language School since 2009” and spent 5 years of teaching at a bilingual preschool in Lincoln. 

Matt Ferguson – Spanish Fellow

Matt Ferguson has spent the past year in Cádiz, Spain teaching English at two public schools. At Groton, Mr. Ferguson will be taking on a number of responsibilities, including teaching two sections of Spanish and helping out with extracurricular activities, athletics, and dorm life. Beyond teaching, he enjoys kayaking, snowboarding, skateboarding, and hiking.