Faces@Key

Faces@Key features members of Key's faculty who have been profiled in recent issues of What's Happening at Key!, a monthly parent bulletin, and Key alumni who have been profiled in The Key Review, the School's newsletter.

Faculty Faces@Key

  • Ellie Young - Math Coordinator

    “The process of learning and how it unfolds is both complex and exhilarating,” said Math Coordinator Ellie Young in conveying her passion for her work at Key. “The challenge of teaching math is in translating to a child how and why a process works and in setting up a series of experiences that enable the child to discover the important principles of math.”

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  • Derek Lieske - Upper School Physics

    Well into his doctoral program in theoretical chemistry at the University of Maryland—a stint that followed his three-and-a-half years as a research fellow in a doctor of pharmacy program at that same institution—Derek Lieske realized that his favorite activities were student-related. “As a grad assistant,” he said, “I looked forward to my time in the classroom, to the follow-up tutoring sessions, and even to grading the tests…. I liked the research aspect of my work, but I loved the teaching.”

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  • Mike Reffner - Upper School Math

    Mike Reffner teaches Advanced Placement Calculus, Pre-Calculus and Statistics in Key’s Upper School. A veteran high school mathematics teacher, Mike came to Key School in 2004 just after concluding a thirty-three-year career in the public school system. “A friend of mine was teaching math at Key and told me how much he liked it, which inspired me to apply. I came in for an interview and taught a class and I loved it. I am now in my third year and I still love it.

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  • Amar Shekdar - Lower School Teacher

    Born in Kolhapur, India, Amar Shekdar moved with his family to Bombay when he was only three years old. Still home to his extended family, Bombay is the place of Amar's childhood memories, the place where he grew up and was educated from first grade through to his college graduation.

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  • Brian Boyd - Athletic Director

    Brian Boyd

    He grew up in a very small town, and went to college in a very big city. He was a champion soccer and tennis player in high school, but was recruited by the basketball coach at the University of Chicago. He declared himself a math major as a freshman, and ended up with a degree in British history. His sights were set on law school, but after falling in love with teaching during his first week of an interim job as a recent college graduate, he ultimately pursued a master’s degree in modern European history.

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Alumni Faces@Key

  • Nadav Kurtz - Class of 1996

    Nadav in <i>The Tempest</i> - Fall 1995

    Filmmaking incorporates so many different art forms: photography, music, writing, design, acting. And so the people doing the best work tend to be the ones who are able to grasp and imaginatively combine those disparate disciplines in interesting ways. The education I got at Key definitely gave me the basic foundation on which to build those aesthetic sensibilities.

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  • Martha Cassidy - Class of 1975

    Martha Cassidy from 74/75 yearbook (Liz Atterbury now Atterbury-Stapf in background)

    I attended The Key School beginning in seventh grade and am the proud possessor of a Class of 1975 ring from Key. After graduation, though, I had the greatest learning experience working as a waitress, slinging hash in a cheap breakfast joint for a year. The next fall, I went to Grinnell College, where I majored in chemistry, working my way through.

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  • Crystal Watkins - Class of 1999

    Crystal (foreground) with classmates Susan Poulsen '99 and Josh Lurz '99

    After graduating from Key in 1999, I went to the University of Virginia. I loved my time at UVA. In addition to great teachers and classmates, I had the chance to do a lot of community service, which enriched my overall college experience. I graduated in 2003 with a Bachelors of Art in English language and literature and in Afro-American and African studies.

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  • Eric Leshinsky - Class of 1994

    Eric at Key

    I was up in New York City for about eight years, first at Columbia University, and then pretty much just a Brooklyn bum. That was my “escape from Annapolis” period.

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  • Brian Krautler - Class of 1994

    Brian and Liz Mahaffay '94 speak at the conclusion of their graduation ceremony

    After Key, my parents dropped me off at the US Coast Guard Academy and promptly moved away from Maryland. I spent four years at CGA and graduated in 1998. My first tour was on a 180-foot ship in Guam, where we conducted humanitarian operations, search and rescue, law enforcement, migrant interdiction operations and buoy tending throughout the Western Pacific, from Japan to Kwajalein.

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  • Nadav Kurtz - Class of 1996

    Nadav in <i>The Tempest</i> - Fall 1995

    Filmmaking incorporates so many different art forms: photography, music, writing, design, acting. And so the people doing the best work tend to be the ones who are able to grasp and imaginatively combine those disparate disciplines in interesting ways. The education I got at Key definitely gave me the basic foundation on which to build those aesthetic sensibilities.

    Read More
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