December 1, 2022
A Student Publication of the Belmont Hill School
New Teachers and Staff
Issue #1
By Benjamin Gong ’26 and Declan Carroll ’27
Mr. Hargrove
Left to right: Ovie Ojeni, Jamie H. Phinney, Dixon T. Hargrove, Emi White, Paige Wallace, Daniel Fulham, Donavan Payne ‘18, William Speer, and Sarah Bradley.
Mr. Hargrove comes to Belmont Hill to teach Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. He will also be an assistant coach for third hockey and varsity lacrosse. In high school, he played soccer, ice hockey, and lacrosse, even playing lacrosse at Williams College while getting a BA in economics. He then went on to get an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Before teaching, he worked in management consulting for Bain & Company, where he helped teach students about consulting. He then taught precalculus, honors precalculus, AP statistics, and economics at Salisbury School. Mr. Fulham Mr. Fulham joins Belmont hill as a one-year teaching fellow for the English and science departments and will coach varsity football and work in the theater department. At Middlebury College, he got a BA in environmental studies with a minor in English and American literature. During his time at Middlebury College, he participated in multiple plays and was a founding member of Middlebury’s sketch comedy group. Mr. Payne ‘18 Mr. Payne returns to Belmont Hill after graduating from Tufts University with a BA in sociology with a minor in Africana studies. He will be a one-year teaching fellow, working in the theater department and English. Mr. Payne had co-taught English classes for rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders before and worked with teens many times over his career. Ms. Bradley As a one-year teaching fellow, Ms. Bradley joins Belmont Hill. She will teach four art sections and manage the school’s art club. She holds a BFA in painting from the Pratt Institute. She has taught in the Belmont Hill summer program and has experience in ceramics and drawing.
Mr. Ojeni Mr. Ojeni joins Belmont Hill, where he will teach Spanish and participate in the Belmont Hill Residential Life Team. He will be helping out in the theater department, and he plans to coach tennis or squash next year. Mr. Ojeni comes from Stanford, where he taught English as a second language and was a resident director. He has a diploma in acting and a Master of Arts in teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. He also has a BA in Spanish and Hispanic studies and theater with a minor in English.
Mr. Speer Mr. Speer joins Belmont Hill, where he will work in the mathematics department, teaching four sections of math and will coach varsity tennis. Mr. Speer holds an MS for teachers in mathematics and a BA in mathematics and music. Before Belmont Hill, Mr. Speer taught multiple math classes and won the 2020 Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished Mathematics Teaching from the Mathematical Association of America.
Ms. Wallace Ms. Wallace comes to Belmont Hill, where she will teach four sections of English. Prior to Belmont Hill, she taught 11th and 12th grade English. She also redesigned the AP English Language curriculum at the Community Charter School of Cambridge. She holds an EdM and an AB Honors in history and literature with a secondary in the classics from Harvard.
Mrs. Folan Mrs. Folan returns to Belmont Hill, where she will work in the Academic support department. She and her husband (Peter Folan ‘93) have been dorm parents in the Underwood House, where she connected to the Belmont Hill community. Mrs. Folan has taught in Belmont public schools and multiple elementary schools. She holds an undergraduate degree in elementary education with a Master’s in education focusing on reading.
Mrs. Phinney Mrs. Phinney comes to Belmont Hill as an associate director of College Counseling. She is an Olympian and has taught neuroscience. Before Belmont Hill, she was a head coach for many varsity programs and a college consular at various schools. She graduated from Deerfield, Harvard University, and Harvard School of Education.
Mrs. White Mrs. White comes to Belmont Hill to be the director of Health Services. She holds an Associate’s Degree in Nursing from Bunker Hill Community College, a BA in nursing from UMass Boston, and a BA in sociology from Wheaton College. She has experience in medical management for kids and teens. She previously cared for 543 students’ medical needs at Shady Hill School.