Every year, St. Paul’s School hires several teaching fellows from the University of Pennsylvania. The two current Penn fellows are Humanities Fellow Caroline Jenkins and Math Fellow William Snead.
Have you ever thought that Jenkins is the real life Legally Blonde? No, she is legally blind! In one eye. Jenkins teaches Hum IV along with coaching Varsity Field Hockey and Girls Varsity Hockey. Jenkins explains that her typical day starts with a walk around our beautiful campus, after which she heads to a meeting and then attends Chapel and her class. Jenkins teaches F block Humanities and observes her mentor teacher, Kevin Brooks, during B block.
When not in class, she keeps up with her UPenn work; though people often seem to forget, all Fellows are also full-time masters students at UPenn. Jenkins is also a former Division III athlete: because of her love for sports, she always tries to get an hour of exercise each day and even ran her first half marathon this fall.
Jenkins explains why she wanted to become a teaching fellow: “My twin sister went to boarding school, but I never did. She really loved her experience, so I have always wondered how I would enjoy life at boarding school.” With the Penn fellow program, she says, Jenkins can teach but also coach and advise, all while earning her master's degree.
You might not have known that Snead is a licensed forklift operator, but here at SPS he is a math teaching fellow and coaches Varsity Cross Country and Track. Snead says his typical day is made up of “teaching, observing, planning, grad school work, coaching if it is Track or Cross Country season, and as much exercise as I have time for.” He meets with his mentor Laura Hrasky, observes classes, and then does some work for his UPenn courses. On the day we interviewed him for the Pelican, he also went for a casual twelve-mile run, so if you can’t tell by now, he is a pretty big runner. Finally, Snead says he ended his day with a Zoom discussion for UPenn.
Snead shares that he joined the Teaching Fellow program because of the resources and support both SPS and Penn offer.
Both Jenkins and Snead report a smooth transition to the boarding school lifestyle, with similarities to their college experience. Jenkins “attended a small liberal arts college, so the general vibe is the same,” but an important difference to her is that SPS has a dining hall, as she says she is not a big cook.
“Compared to all of my friends who are paying exorbitant amounts for their rent and food in New York or Los Angeles,” Snead says, “having access to nice housing and the wonderful facilities we have at our disposal here makes me feel grateful for my choices.”
The social transition to boarding school has posed no challenge for Jenkins, who says she has easily been able to make new friends with the big group of both fellows and full-time teachers. “I love to dog sit some of the campus dogs on the weekends and talk to my players, students, and girls in my dorm,” Jenkins says. “We teaching fellows have to stick together,” says Snead.