2017 NEH Arendt Summer Scholars
Welcome to the NEH 2017 Summer Scholars studying the Political Theory of Hannah Arendt!
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Joey Braccino
Joey Braccino is a teacher of English and Journalism at West Morris Mendham High School in Mendham, NJ. An avid theatre fan, Joey also helped launch the Mendham Players drama club (which he continues to co-advise) and participates in productions across NJ when his busy schedule allows. Joey co-hosts the weekly Talking Comics podcast, which covers comics, film, television, and all facets of geek culture and reaches an international listening audience. Often, these interests intersect with his job as an English teacher and his ongoing intellectual pursuit of narrative construction and social representation. A graduate of Rutgers University and the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, Joey now resides in Jersey City.
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Emily Bruner
Emily Bruner is a special education teacher at Young Audiences, an arts integrative elementary and middle school, near her hometown of New Orleans. She studied Anthropology in college, but fell in love with teaching while working in West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her interests include travel, politics, and cooking. She is very excited to be part of the NEH program, and looks forward to meeting everyone!
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Elizabeth Burns
Elizabeth Burns is Chair of the Humanities Department at Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School, where she also teaches Religious Studies. A ten-year veteran teacher, Liz previously participated in the NEH Semianar “Punishment, Politics, and Culture.”
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Joseph Cloward
Joseph Cloward grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and German Studies in 2013. He currently teaches AP US History and leads the drama program at Roma High School in Roma, Texas.
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Jason Cruze
Jason teaches pre-college Philosophy at Areté Preparatory Academy in Los Angeles, California. Now in his sixth year at Areté. he received his BA in Philosophy from the University of California, Riverside, and an MA in Philosophy from Biola University in 2014. This year he taught classes in English literature, social and political justice, and the moral history of the twentieth century. He also coaches the Ethics Bowl debate team and enjoys volunteering with different organizations working with inner city youth. Currently he volunteer-teaches through InsideOUT Writers at a juvenile detention center in Los Angeles. He finds all his students’ stories deeply moving and inspiring. One more thing: he recently saved a cat, whose name is Capone. Inspired by Al Capone, obviously (he thinks he was teaching a class on punishment and American gangsters at the time).
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Lindsay Glover
Lindsay Glover is a teacher of English, History, Social Communications, and French at Highland High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received a B.A. from Dartmouth College in Government and an M.A from the University of New Mexico in French. Her interests include art, poetry, literature, political philosophy, the history of ideas, and the philosophy of education.
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Kevin Hurley
Kevin is a teacher of IB Economics and Online Learning Coordinator at the International School of Beijing. He also teaches Comparative Politics at Global Online Academy. Originally from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, he has been teaching abroad for 13 years in Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, and China. He loves reading, traveling, and running and will be aiming to run a couple races around the Sacramento area as well as the San Francisco half marathon the day after the seminar ends.
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Dana Kepler
Dana Kepler is a Library Media Specialist at Park Hill High School in Kansas City, Missouri. Passionate about literacy and learning, Dana looks forward to studying the life, work, and writing of Hannah Arendt to enrich areas of the high school curriculum. After traveling to India and China the last two summers, she looks forward to pinning UC-Davis, California on her travel map too!
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Kenan Kerr
Kenan is an 8th grade English language arts teacher at Whitewater Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Outside of the classroom, she is happiest when she has a book in one hand and a nice glass of wine in the other. She is currently gloating over the UNC Tar Heels’ sixth N.C.A.A. Championship win– Go Heels! She reads Hannah Arendt every year with her students to complement their study of the Holocaust and Elie Wiesel’s Night.
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John McCormack
John McCormack has been a member of the English department at Hammond School in Columbia, SC for the past nine years. He teaches World and AP literature courses for students in their senior year and earned his MFA in Poetry for Columbia University.
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Jane Murphy
Jane Murphy teaches British Literature and World Literature (Juniors and Seniors) in a Catholic high school in Providence. I live in Cranston, RI, with my husband and two cats. Our two grown daughters have flown the nest for the most part. I’m excited to be joining this seminar — a dark topic for a dark time.
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Lorraine Romano
Lorry Romano is a veteran public school educator and a Navy military veteran. She teaches filmmaking in the International Baccaulaureate program and digital media in the Digital Media Career Academy at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Lorry enjoys movies and documentaries, studying history, reading the Sunday New York Times, tennis, and great dinner conversations without cell phones.
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Jennifer Selvin
Jennifer Selvin is a high school English teacher who lives and works in San Francisco. She’s fascinated by student thinking about texts, the act of reading and the relationship between reading and identity.
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Grace Tesfae
Grace Tesfae is a second year teacher from Michigan. She is currently teaching World History &a Geography, Human Rights, and A.P. Human Geography at a public charter school in Detroit. In her free time, Grace enjoys reading, playing soccer, coaching robotics, learning new things, and exploring new places.
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Will Treece
Will Treece teaches 10th grade global history at Park Slope Collegiate, a small public school in Brooklyn. He has also worked as a college writing tutor, ESL instructor, and summer camp go-kart and treasure hunting specialist. Each year he teaches about the rise of fascism, and he’s looking forward to adding more Arendt into his curriculum.
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Leo Vacarro
Leo Vaccaro is currently a history teacher at a Jesuit high school, St. Joseph’s Preparatory School. He grew up in the Philadelphia area, attended Gettysburg College, and received a master’s degree from Villanova University.