New Faculty on The Hilltop

9/16/2019

We welcome an exciting and dynamic crop of new faculty members to campus this fall in STEM, Spanish, math, science, music, English and more.

William “Billy” Ayotte

Billy comes to KUA with his wife, Caroline, a CNA, from Bethel Maine where he worked for the last six years at Gould Academy as their resident Maker and for five years as a technology support specialist. He will be taking over KUA’s STEM program as Director of Innovation and Design and will be teaching Design Thinking as well as engineering classes. Billy specializes in complex STEM projects such as robotics and athletic equipment design and building. He is highly proficient in the use and maintenance and even construction of all STEM equipment and programs and looks forward to leading our STEM students in an array of projects and national level competitions. Billy is also an accomplished outdoorsman who is a certified Mountain Search and Rescue team member, and both he and his wife are avid snowboarders and mountain-bikers. They will be living upstairs in Jones house and look forward to exploring the trails and slopes near to KUA.

Elizabeth “Beth” Gilmartin

Beth joins KUA after teaching at Gann Academy and Squaw Valley Academy. Before turning to teaching, she worked as a senior research assistant at the Federal Reserve. Beth grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, but spent many of her childhood summers in Beijing, China. She is an avid reader and a passionate skier. Beth is familiar with boarding school having graduated from Dana Hall. She has a BA in economics from Wellesley College and has nearly completed her MAT in math education at Northeastern. Beth is committed to making math learning collaborative and engaging and is looking forward to teaching our highest level math course, Multivariable Calculus as well as several sections of more introductory Algebra. Beth will be living in Dexter Richards, advising, and coaching Recreational Skiing.

Tae Kim

Tae comes to The Hilltop all the way from Cheonan and Busan Korea, where he taught history and economics for the past ten years at the Korea Science Academy and the Bugil Academy. Though born in Korea, Tae grew up in Virginia and went to college at Virginia Commonwealth University where he earned a BFA in painting. After a career in the international seafood industry, he returned to school, attending Morehead State University where he earned an MBA in management. Looking for a change from business, Tae turned to teaching and hasn’t looked back. Joining Tae are his wife, Younglim Song and two children: son, Daein 10, who loves to read and daughter, Hayne, 5, who currently aspires to be a ballerina, chef, and doctor. Tae loves playing basketball, considers himself something of a “gym rat” and looks forward to joining KUA’s immersive lifestyle. Tae will be teaching two history classes, two economics classes, working in the dorm, coaching basketball and International Student Coordinator. He and his family will be living in Brewster House.

Renee Lewis

Renee brings a wealth of private school experience to The Hilltop where she will be working in the Gosselin Learning Center. She earned a BA from Boston University in History/ Art History and has been a teacher, dorm parent, and coach at Holderness School and Concord Academy where she also served as Assistant Athletic Director and worked in Admissions. Renee is married to new Head of School Tyler Lewis. They live in Munro House with their three children Ben, 10, Finn, 8, and Hadley, 6.

Alexis Liston ’03

Alexis rejoins the Student Life Office this year as Dean of Community Life & Belonging. In addition, she will be teaching US History and overseeing the Equestrian Activity in the fall. Alexis lives in Bryant Dorm with her husband, Joshua Hunnewell and their dog Pippin. She earned her BA at Mount Holyoke College and is currently completing her Masters of Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College. Most recently the Oral History Specialist at Rauner Special Collections Library at Dartmouth College, Alexis also worked on the SpeakOut project for LGBTQIA+ members of the Dartmouth community. Prior to her time at Dartmouth, she was the Director of Community Programs for Walnut Hill School for the Arts where she created a human development curriculum for the 9th-grade leadership programming, and redesigned class and student advising programs.

Jessica “Jesse” Mathers

Jesse Mathers and her family are excited to be joining KUA’s boarding school community after having spent the last six years at the Calverton School (a day school) in Maryland. Jesse’s educational background includes a BS in Biology from The Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Genetics from Penn State University’s College of Medicine. She has also taught genetics at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth summer program for the past five years. Jesse is joined by her husband Robert “Craig” Mathers, who is a middle-school science teacher and their three children: Katie, 11, John, 9, and Sarah, 7. Their family also includes a couple of cats and a young yellow lab “Mist” who looks forward to making friends with all the KUA students. The entire family loves the outdoors and living in a place that gets a lot of snow. Jesse will be the Science Department Chair and will teach four sections of science focusing on Biology and Chemistry. She and her family are living in Welch House.

Cory McClure

Cory McClure jumped right into his new position as an Associate Director of Admission and has been hard at work since July 1st. Cory, who will be our Varsity Basketball Coach, has also been working to build that team for next year. He comes to KUA with a strong seven-year track record in admission at Bridgton and Gould Academies. Cory has coached many winning basketball teams at both the high school and college levels and is a believer in building a strong sense of community and responsibility within his teams. Joining Cory in the new Main Street residence are his wife, Destiny and their children, Max, 13, Sylvia, 11, and Griffin, 9.

Gunnar Olson

We are excited to have Gunnar Olson’s experienced leadership in our College Advising office. Gunnar arrived in July with his wife, Anne from Hudson, Ohio where he had been working at Western Reserve Academy. He comes to us with college admission experience at Adelphi University and Kalamazoo College and at the high school level with several independent high schools. Gunnar is organizing and planning for the school year and looks forward to creating a dynamic college application preparatory program for each grade level. Gunnar and Anne live in MacLeay House, and Gunnar will be working as a dorm parent and assistant coach.

Demitrios Papadopoulos

Demitrios joins the Arts Department this year as a music Teaching Fellow. Although born in Greece and fluent in Greek, he grew up primarily in Syracuse, New York. Demitrios graduated from Syracuse University in 2016 with a BM in music education and recently earned his MM in Wind Conducting from Rutgers. He spent last year teaching in a large New Jersey public school as a one year substitute and led a variety of ensembles and including a large marching band. He is looking forward to working in our smaller close-knit community, leading both the classical and jazz ensembles and teaching AP Music Theory. An avid gamer and comic book aficionado, Demitri lives in Densmore Dorm.

Victoria Pipas’14

Victoria returns to KUA this year as a Teaching Fellow following the completion of her graduate degree in English Literature at Oxford University. She did her undergraduate work at Middlebury in Literary Studies with a minor in Latin where she graduated Suma cum laude in 2018. Victoria also did summer work as an intern teaching at St. Paul’s, worked at the New England Review and has contributed to several notable research projects. Those who remember Victoria as a student know that she was a passionate endurance athlete. She has continued to follow that passion, having run cross-country at Middlebury and worked as a Nordic ski instructor in Vermont. Victoria lives in Dexter Richards and teaches two sections of 9th-grade Literature of the Quest, working closely with Jenny Blue. She will be coaching two seasons of endurance sports and will mentor our Journalism program students.

Scott Winham

Scott comes to KUA after working for the last 19 years as a math teacher, Dean of Students, and Head of the Upper School at Seabury Hall in Makawao, Hawaii. He and his wife Michelle, a high school history teacher, grew up in Castleton, Vermont and are enjoying returning to their New England roots. Their daughter, Veronica, is a sophomore at Dartmouth College where she studies English and government and runs cross-country and track. Their son Michael, 13, is an avid basketball player and is in the 7th grade at Plainfield school. Scott teaches four sections of mathematics, coaches soccer and girls’ varsity basketball, and is a dorm parent. The family lives in Annie Duncan House.

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