Stefania Calastri ‘23
Jack Crowley ‘24
Gavin Schmidt ‘24
Adjunct is a word many students are hearing this year because EA has made several additions to the faculty, largely due to pandemic class size limits. New members of the Upper School include adjunct classics teachers Betsy Spear and Sheherazade Khan, science teachers Susie Lim and Jeffrey Rubel, interim learning specialist Renee Hartey, adjunct English teacher Josh Hsu, and adjunct Spanish teacher Pam Rudolph.
Sra. Rudolph 
Mr. Rubel 
Mr. Hsu
Courtesy Ashley Kennedy
Hartey, the temporary learning specialist while Alyson Kurz is on maternity leave, says, “EA has made my adjustment into this community as smooth as possible by frequently checking in on me, and asking me if I needed anything.” Lim, new sophomore chemistry teacher, agrees that Episcopal has offered lots of support and communication to help her feel included in the community and adapt to the new school, sharing, “The [science] department is great. There have been lots of conversations about what works and doesn’t work [in the online environment].” One of the most drastic changes, in her opinion, is EA’s block schedule, which compared to her previous school, is not very easy to manage.
Despite these efforts to make the transition easier, new faculty members still found it somewhat difficult to connect with students in the online environment at the start of the year. Hartey explains that she is still adjusting to the online infrastructure that EA has relied on for distance learning: “Navigating Episcopal’s online systems, like Canvas and Veracross, has taken a lot of getting used to.” Lim shares that in an online environment, “it is especially hard to get to know students and form connections.” Spear, a new freshman Latin teacher, agrees with Lim, saying, “Good teachers are those that are able to read their students well, which is difficult to do in an online environment.” She is thrilled to have recently returned to campus and started to make personal connections with her fellow faculty and students.
Ms. Hartey 
Ms. Lim 
Ms. Khan
Many of the students also agree that forming connections with their teachers has been difficult with the virtual start to the school year. Rohith Tsundupalli ‘24 explains, “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, incoming teachers might not have had the opportunity to meet or interact with their students personally. Similarly, in a short span of time they may have had a harder time adapting to Episcopal’s online teaching platforms and community.” Other students have expressed gratitude toward the efforts of their new teachers to learn more about their students. Many teachers, including Rubel, sent out Google Forms, asking about their students’ interests and goals, as well as set up online meetings to chat. Pepper Claytor ‘23, a student in Rubel’s class, comments, “I really liked how Mr. Rubel made an effort to get to know his students’ personal lives and interests through our virtual environment.”