Summer Scholars

Archived content. The NEH Summer Seminar “Why Literature Matters”
occurred from June 24-July 21, 2018.

Hillairy Brown

After a demi-nomadic upbringing, Hillairy finally settled down in South Carolina, graduating from the College of Charleston with degrees in English and Secondary Education. She has been teaching in Charleston public schools for four years. As a proponent of the public school experience and quality education for all, Hillairy has a deep interest in academic and social equity. She loves science-fiction, television, and deeply dismal literary fiction (and any combination thereof!).

Daniel Charlton

As a Montanan, I knew the world was out there and it was meant to be explored. With an education in Liberal Arts, I took advantage of various opportunities and travelled to Kyrgyzstan and Russia where I taught ESL and International Baccalaureate courses. Upon returning to the United States, I finished my degrees in English and History. Currently, I teach English at a public school while also pursuing a Masters in Liberal Arts.

Gillian Drutchas

Gillian Drutchas is currently a teacher at Marian High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where she teaches AP English Literature and Composition and English 9. She received a B.A. in English and Psychology from Mount Holyoke College and an M.A. in Educational studies from the University of Michigan. When she is not in her classroom, you can often find her reading or on the ice, where she is a competitive adult figure skater. In the summers, Gillian loves to travel, and her trips usually include seeing one of Shakespeare’s plays. She is working on seeing all 38 plays on stage and has seen 21 so far. She currently lives in Birmingham, Michigan.

Jeffrey Fetters

Blame it on the pigs, the corn, or Interstate 80, but this Iowa lad was struck by travel fever at an early age. His wanderlust took him to teaching assignments in Japan, Ecuador, Egypt, India, and the tiny kingdom of Lesotho. He currently calls North Carolina his home and has taught English at a public high school near Raleigh for seven years.

Courtney Fuson

Courtney Fuson is a graduate of Lambuth University where she studied English and Secondary Education. She currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is in her seventh year as a classroom teacher. She works at Powell High School where she serves as a lead teacher and the English Language Arts Department Head.

When not in the classroom, Courtney enjoys traveling, pursuing the best slice of pizza in the country, and spending time in the outdoors.

Hector Huertas Chalecki

Once upon a time, a gorgeous full-figured ebony woman caught the attention of a man of Napoleon-height, and a few years later I came into existence. The unlikely couple endowed me with the essential hutzpah to live with pride, flair, audacity, compassion, and most importantly love. I share this “marinate” with my students so they too can walk with confidence, purpose, and determination with a side of humor.

Sara Lott

A fifth-generation Floridian, I grew up in Pensacola, Florida and attended the University of Florida for my B.A. in English and Classics and an M.Ed. in English Education. I began teaching high school English on Chicago’s South Side and have since taught in suburban north Florida, rural Mississippi, and now, urban South Florida. In 2017, I completed my Ed.D. with a dissertation on literature instruction in the age of Common Core.

Candace Moore

Candace Moore is an AP Literature teacher and English Department Chair at KIPP Atlanta Collegiate in Atlanta, Georgia. She’s been teaching for 14 years, and hasn’t tired yet of finding ways to approach analyzing and discussing literature with teenagers, and supporting other teachers as well. When not teaching, she can be found reading, binge-watching television shows and/or knitting.

Jen Morrisett

Jen Morrisett has taught grades 6-12 in bush Alaska for nine years. She loves storytelling in literature, tv, film, and art. She is currently working on a fiction novel she hopes will be finished by the time she turns fifty.

Rob Rogers

Rob Rogers is a writer, teacher, and journalist who works with 11th and 12th-grade students at De La Salle High School in Concord, California. When he isn’t nattering on about transcendentalism, the American Dream or slam poetry, you can generally find him puttering in the garden, learning to play harmonica, practicing archery or playing heroes and villains with his four- and seven-year-old sons. He grew up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, attended Kenyon College and spent several years as a newspaper reporter and travel writer before finding his home in the classroom. Rob is a strong believer in the power of stories, the need for creative self-expression and the 12-bar blues. He also likes tea.

Erica Smith

Erica has a B.A. in Mass Communication and a B.A. in History from Louisiana State University, and an M.A. in History from University of Houston-Clear Lake. Erica has just finished her 13th year of teaching in Houston, where she teaches 9th grade English and AP Research. She loves English history and literature, is involved in community theatre (both acting and directing), and travels whenever she can.

Jaclyn Thyfault

Born and raised in the Chicagoland area, I stayed true to my roots and attended Northern Illinois University (Go Huskies!), where I earned my bachelor’s degree in English in the winter of 2012. After college, I was hired to teach English and AVID at my alma mater of Dundee-Crown High School, where I’ve just completed my fourth year of teaching.

Tiffany Touma

After restless years teaching abroad, Tiffany has recently settled (ish) back in New York City, where she works as the founding English teacher and Grade 10 Level Leader at a charter school in Brooklyn dedicated to achieving equality within the segregation of New York secondary schools and universities. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Connecticut with a concentration in Irish literature, and her M.A. in the Teaching of English from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is a first generation American, dependent on coffee, and happiest with a book of angry literature.

Joanna Walker

I studied Literature at UC Riverside, taught English at San Gabriel Mission High School for two years, before moving with my husband to Seattle Washington in 1994. I have taught IB, AP and level English classes at Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, Washington for the past 12 years. I have three wonderful children, my favorite people in the world—a close fourth favorite person is my 95-pound bull mastiff, Ziggy. In my free time I enjoy reading, walking, traveling, making art, and spending quality time with my husband.

Claire Walter

Claire Walter (MAT) is a founding faculty member and the English Department Lead of The Wolcott School, an independent college prep high school in Chicago for students with learning differences. Claire graduated from The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a degree in English and received her Master of Arts in Teaching from The Johns Hopkins University. When Claire is not teaching English, she enjoys floral design, running, swimming, reading, and gardening.

Katherine Watkins

A graduate of Rhodes College and the University of Edinburgh, Katherine Watkins is in her seventh year teaching high school English in the greater Memphis area. This past November, Watkins was one of two Tennessee teachers to receive a 2017 Milken Educator Award. Nicknamed the “Oscars of teaching,” the Milken Award honors top educators with an unrestricted financial grant of $25,000 and membership in a network of the nation’s most distinguished teachers, principals, and specialists in the field of education. When not teaching, Watkins enjoys traveling and spending time with friends, family, and her four dogs.