by Ketaki Tavan (V)

This fall, Ms. Stephanie Mygas joined the Pingry faculty to teach both Biology I/II and Chemistry I/II. Additionally, she is working closely with Journal Club and will be coaching fencing during the winter. She is also a co-advisor with Mr. Steve Benoit for Form V students. Ms. Mygas originally hails from Randolph, New Jersey and attended Rowan University, graduating with a B.S. in Science and Biology. She then went on to earn her Master’s in Marine Biology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Prior to starting at Pingry, she worked as a substitute teacher in the District of Philadelphia and as a science teacher at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School.

When asked about her decision to become a teacher, Ms. Mygas cited her experiences in lab research and her time as a T.A in college. “I enjoyed conducting research and teaching others about my research,” she said. After working as a T.A., Ms. Mygas’ passion for education and science led her to become a science teacher. She also stated that she likes Pingry so far because the “students are often really involved in research” and because the science facilities at Pingry are great for teaching all levels of classes.

This year, Ms. Mygas wishes to stay involved with the Pingry community by working closely with students. She hopes to bond with the students by learning more about them and being an active member of the community.

During her free time, Ms. Mygas enjoys a variety of hobbies, including playing softball, knitting, and weaving. She also loves reading sci-fi books and is a big fan of Jurassic Park and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

On her thoughts about Pingry thus far, Ms. Mygas said that she is definitely enjoying teaching at Pingry and is looking forward to a great first year. She also said, “Students should definitely come out to Journal Club, it’s really cool and the topics are interesting.”

This fall, Ms. Anne Sher joins the Upper School Mathematics Department to teach Geometry and Intermediate Algebra. She will also help coach the Girls’ JV Basketball Team in the winter and is co-advising seniors with Ms. Judy Lebowitz.

Ms. Sher attended Williams College, where she received a B.A. in mathematics and history and graduated this past June. Taking courses in both math and history “was a good balance,” she recalls. “I enjoy both subjects.”

Prior to arriving at Pingry, Ms. Sher worked as camp counselor at a sleep-away camp for five years, and this was one of the experiences that inspired her to become a teacher. “I love being around kids and being a part of their lives,” she says, smiling. “Teaching seemed like the perfect match for me.”

At Williams, she was employed by the Math and Science Resource Center and tutored fellow college students in chemistry and multivariate calculus. She also worked for the local elementary school to tutor students after the school day. These experiences strengthened her resolution to become a teacher, and she now arrives at Pingry to pursue her first full-time teaching position after college.

When asked about her time at Pingry thus far, Ms. Sher “can’t imagine it being better.” She notes how motivated and kind the students are and how she already “feels so welcomed into the community.”

Speaking about her goals for the year, Ms. Sher hopes to “improve myself as a teacher and see my own personal growth” as she eases into this new teaching experience. “I also hope to become a part of the Pingry community and connect with my students,” she adds.

When she is not teaching, Ms. Sher loves to visit her friends in New York City, as she lives in the nearby city of Hoboken. She has many dogs at home and is a dedicated animal lover. “I really like music as well,” she adds, “and I like going to concerts. They are great experiences.”

This year, Dr. Danielle Mirliss joins Pingry as an advisor on the technology committee. Among several technology-related roles, she will be helping the faculty integrate Schoology into their classes.

Dr. Mirliss received her B.A. from Rutgers University, her M.A. from New York University, and her M.Ed. and Ed.D. from Columbia University.

Having studied psychology and instructional technology, Dr. Mirliss decided to pursue teaching technology at Seton Hall University.

There, she worked on various technology projects such as developing creative spaces for new technology as well as online courses. When asked about her experience there, Dr. Mirliss said, “The environment of helping the faculty and students showed me the benefits of teaching.”

At Pingry, Dr. Mirliss looks forward to being involved with computer science, robotics, and other new technology projects.

One idea that she is currently working with is using virtual reality (VR) headsets to display art in a new way. She is working to have VR available for the whole school to use.

In her free time, Dr. Mirliss enjoys spending time with her family. With her son starting fourth grade at Pingry this year, she is very excited to be both an administrator and parent with Pingry. She enjoys attending her son’s sporting events and working on robotics projects with him.

This year, Dr. Mirliss hopes to build connections with the faculty and learn about the student culture. When asked what her goals are for the year, she responded, “Not only do I want to support the community, but I also want push innovation at Pingry.”

Mr. Alan Van Antwerp joined the Pingry drama department to teach Drama and Public Speaking in both the Middle and Upper Schools. He will be teaching Drama 8 in the Middle School, Drama 2 for sophomores, and Public Speaking, an elective open to all Upper School students. Additionally, he is the club advisor for the Podcast Club and will be taking the role of Technical Theatre Director, overseeing lights for the upcoming plays and musicals this year.

Mr. Van Antwerp attended Montclair State University in New Jersey where he received a Bachelor of the Arts. He is also pursuing his masters in Theatre Studies. When asked what made him want to become a drama teacher, he said, “I had an amazing theatre director in high school and I took a lot from how he taught and directed shows.”

Mr. Van Antwerp has had many professional experiences in theater. He was the stage manager and event coordinator for Broadway Sings, a company that takes Broadway actors on their off days and has them perform a ninety-minute original musical cabaret act. Also, for almost nine summers, he taught Performing Arts at the Passaic Valley High School in New Jersey.

Regarding his experience at Pingry so far, he said enthusiastically, “I love Pingry! The students have been very welcoming and the Drama Department has been very supportive. Pingry values the arts and I really appreciate that.” His goals for the school year are “to ask good questions and to be a fair and balanced evaluator. My funniest goal might be to not get lost.”

In his free time, Mr. Van Antwerp likes to take part in community theatre. He has a number of other hobbies as well. He commented, “I love golf and I love tennis. I love dogs and in my spare time I often play with my best friend’s dog.” He added, “I love food. So having lunch here has been extraordinary.” When asked what advice he can give to aspiring actors, he replied, “To be your toughest critic and to continue to think about the process of getting better, not the end result.”

To the community, Mr. Van Antwerp would like to say, “Theatre sometimes might get a bad rap in school. I think that theatre is something that teaches you life skills in a non-classroom way. Theatre teaches empathy.” Mr. Van Antwerp is very excited to be a part of the Pingry community, and he is ready to spread his passion for theater throughout the school.

Dr. Marie-Pierre Jolly joined the ranks of the Computer Science department in Pingry this year, teaching Survey of Computer Science, Intro to Computer Science, and Advanced Placement Computer Science. She has not yet decided on how to join the Pingry community (for example, as a coach or club advisor) but is interested in advising the research team and the Girl Code club.

Dr. Jolly, who is originally from France, received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Technology of Compiègne in northern France. She then moved to the United States and received a Master’s and a PhD in Computer Science from Michigan State University.

After graduating, she started working in Princeton, New Jersey, at Siemens AG, a leading automation company. When asked what she worked on, Dr. Jolly said, “I was a research scientist working on image analysis for cardiac MRI [Magnetic Resonance Imaging].” She was at Siemens for twenty-two years before coming to teach at Pingry. When asked why she made the switch from Siemens to Pingry, she said, “I’ve done a lot of programming, and I wanted to instill all this knowledge into the new generation while helping students make the right choices with their programming ability.”

Dr. Jolly nurtured her love of teaching long before her stint at Siemens, when she was a Teaching Assistant (TA) at Michigan State. As a mother, she says, “I really enjoyed tutoring my kids and their friends, and I tutored my kids in French and helped them with their math and computer science and physics and chemistry and you name it.” She also says that her children, now in high school, really inspired her to become a teacher.

When asked how she likes Pingry so far, Dr. Jolly responded, “Oh, I love it. It’s a great school with great kids.”

In her free time, Dr. Jolly likes to cook and read, specifically fiction. When she has the time, she also enjoys arts and crafts.

Dr. Jolly grew up in Compiègne, which is about an hour north of Paris. “My dad was a university professor, and he’s the one who kind of inspired me to be a computer scientist. He brought computers into the household really early, back in the eighties.” She said that her upbringing taught her to be very organized, which she still is.

“Things were very scheduled when I grew up,” she explained.

Dr. Jolly really appreciates the sense of community at Pingry, calling it her favorite aspect of the Pingry experience. “It’s like a family here, it seems. I like that,” she said. She believes the students are more conscientious and responsible because of the Honor Code, saying that students are “serious in trying to do well and trying to do good in life, not only in academics but in everything they do.”

On a less serious note, she appreciates the quality of the food in the Pingry cafeteria. “The food is better than what you would expect from a school cafeteria…and I like all the choices,” she said.

This fall, Ms. Laurie Piette joined the Pingry community as the new Middle School Director. In addition, she will be playing many other roles, such as teaching the new Form II Leadership course with Mr. Gerry Vanasse.

Ms. Piette attended Wellesley College where she received degrees in English and classical civilization. She has an M.A. in creative writing from The City College of New York as well as an M.Ed. in private school leadership from Columbia University. When asked if her interests were limited to humanities, she responded, “I wouldn’t say I am a scientist, but I can help a science teacher and plan out science lessons and concepts.”

She went on, “I’m very interested in brain research and mental cognition. I just finished my M.Ed. at Columbia and we did a lot of work on the various ways you can produce deeper learning in students, and that fascinates me.”

Regarding her other interests, Ms. Piette said, “I love to read, I love history, I love the story of history, and I love the fact that you can interpret history from your own perspective, while acknowledging there can be multiple perspectives on one part of history—in fact, there have to be.”

Ms. Piette has vast experience in the field of education. When asked about her background in teaching, she said, “I’ve taught English, history, creative writing, and Latin for grades four through twelve.” Her position at Pingry is not her first as a director for middle school students. She commented, “In my last position, I was in charge of the curriculum for a nursery-to-eighth-grade school, so I really learned how curriculum is put together there.”

In terms of her goals for the year, Ms. Piette said, “My goals for the year are to fully implement the schedule and to tweak it so that it’s even more effective moving forward.” She also looks to encourage risk-taking in the classroom.

When asked about her thoughts on Pingry so far, she said, “I absolutely love it. Pingry has such a talented group of faculty, administration, and parents who are really invested in their children doing well.” She finds Pingry students to be “amazing, intelligent, and articulate. They walk the walk: they really represent the honor code and take it seriously.”

Ms. Piette is ecstatic to be Pingry’s new Middle School Director. She would like the community to know, “I’m just so excited to be here. I hit the ground running in July first, and it’s been just a wonderful experience so far and I’m looking forward to the rest of the year.”

This fall, Ms. Audrey Enriquez joined the Upper School English Department, teaching both the eighth and ninth grades. She is also serving as co-advisor for an eleventh grade advisory and the Quiz Bowl Team.

A citizen of the Philippines, Ms. Enriquez described herself as a “third culture kid.” She grew up in Indonesia, attending international schools that made her a native speaker of English. She studied at the University of Asia and the Pacific, majoring in humanities.

During her first two years in college, Ms. Enriquez did not make any decisions about her occupation. In her junior year, however, she had a special dream in which she stood in front of a class and taught kindergarten kids. She took this as a sign and went on to pursue a career in education. Ms. Enriquez attended Bard College and earned her M.A.T. in English.

She also graduated from the Teacher Training Center for International Educators, FL with a Certificate in Advanced International Teaching, a preferred credential by international schools all over the world.

After graduation, she taught at multiple high schools in New York, including Dwight School in Manhattan, Harlem Children’s Zone, and Kew Forest in Queens. She then decided to leave New York for Europe, aiming to work in Vienna. However, at a job fair, she met a group of teachers from Pingry and changed her mind. She interviewed and joined the school.

As an English teacher, Ms. Enriquez aims to teach diverse literature from all five continents, and all major religions – not just specifically Asian, Jewish, and Muslim.

She wants to include elements from different cultures, religions, and races to make her class truly a “world literature course.”

In her free time, Ms. Enriquez enjoys watching Broadway musicals. Her favorite ones include The Book of Mormon and Miss Saigon. She is also a foodie and loves traveling.

“When there’s a three-day weekend, I’m out. When there’s a longer holiday, I’m out of the country,” she said.

Ms. Enriquez appreciates different kinds of literature, especially books by authors who share similar experiences teaching overseas. She also listens to different genres of music and goes to concerts frequently. “My next concert is reggae,” she added.

She greatly values the diversity present in Pingry. She said, “I have never taught in a more diverse school than here, even in all of New York.” She also spoke highly of the way Pingry takes care of its teachers, and she believed that this would not only help the development of her skills but also her personality.

Regarding her goals this year, Ms. Enriquez mentioned that she would like to get to know more of her students. She also wants to take advantage of all the opportunities given to teachers including various arts exhibits, conferences, and even the Taiko Drumming Club.