New faculty at The Pennington School (from left) Marissa Brown, Shannon Taylor, Veronica Vesnaver, Nick Ackermann, Michael McDavid, Margo Andrews, John Payne and Maria Kane.
The Pennington School has welcomed seven new members to its faculty this year. They are Nick Ackermann, Margo Andrews, Marissa Brown, Maria Kane, Michael McDavid, John Payne, Shannon Taylor and Veronica Vesnaver.
Ackermann, who is teaching science in Pennington’s Middle School, earned his B.S. degree in biology from The College of New Jersey and an M.A.Ed. degree, with a focus on biological sciences, from Montclair State University. He taught biology and environmental science for five years at Rutherford (N.J.) High School, where he also worked with the biology and green clubs and coached baseball. Most recently he was a STEM enrichment specialist at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. A native of Rutherford, Ackermann now lives in Ewing Township.
Andrews is teaching Upper School environmental science. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Clark University, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Rutgers, all in the field of geography. Her focus has been on nature and society, and her doctoral dissertation addressed “Private Land, Public Rights, and Rural Livelihoods in Maine’s Social Wilderness.” Andrews has been an environmental scientist and technical editor with business and nonprofit organizations and previously taught at Purnell School. Andrews grew up in Burlington, Vt., and moved to Pennington last year from Portland, Me.
Brown joins the World Language Department as a teacher of French and also teaches Middle School Latin and an academic skills tutorial. A graduate of Pace University with a B.A. degree in modern languages, she went on to earn an M.A. degree in French literature from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in French and Francophone language and literature from the University of Virginia. She has taught at both the high school and college levels and has lived in Aix-en-Provence and Montpellier, France. Brown grew up in Holland, Pa., and is a graduate of Council Rock High School.
Kane, a 2009 graduate of The Pennington School, returns to join the residential faculty as a teacher in the Edmund V. Cervone Center for Learning. Kane earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education at Elon University. After completing student teaching and her degree in both fields, she taught first grade in Sterling, Va., for two years. Kane grew up in Newtown, Pa.
McDavid is living on campus and teaching Upper School English. A recent graduate of Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, he was a three-time winner of the Eleanor Frost Playwriting Contest there. He also played rugby and was an actor in the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals Shakespeare troupe. He is a native of Yardley, Pa., and a graduate of the Lawrenceville School.
Payne joins the faculty of the Edmund V. Cervone Center for Learning. He has ten years’ experience teaching English in both public and independent schools in New Jersey and Georgia as well as coaching lacrosse in the United States, England and Australia. He was most recently sport clubs coordinator and project manager for Rutgers. Payne holds a bachelor’s degree in English and writing from Loyola University of Maryland. A native of Princeton, he currently lives in Tinton Falls.
Taylor, who is teaching in the Cervone Center, is a graduate of the University of Richmond with a B.A. degree in history and a minor in education. She went on to earn a master’s degree in deaf education, elementary, from Gallaudet University. She has taught both hearing and deaf students during her career. Most recently she was a teacher of language arts, writing and literature at Princeton Friends School. A native of Washington Township in south Jersey, she now lives in Ewing Township.
Vesnaver joins the residential faculty as a teaching fellow in Middle School history. She is a recent graduate of Colby College, where she earned a B.A. degree with a double major in American studies and art. During her college years, she worked for the Mystic Seaport Museum and the Colby College Museum of Art. Vesnaver grew up in Salem, Conn., and went to high school in New London, Conn.
The Pennington School, founded in 1838, recently celebrated its 175th anniversary. It is an independent coeducational school for students in grades 6 through 12, in both day and boarding programs. The curriculum is college preparatory, with an emphasis on individual excellence, fostering the development of the whole student through academics, athletics, community service and the creative and performing arts.
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