Ethel Walker School
The mission of the English Department is to develop in every student, every year, in every lesson, the ability to read, write, and speak about what matters — to her — and to the world.
We believe in teaching our students to write creatively, personally, and analytically with brilliance and authenticity, to read for wisdom, strength, and moral citizenship, and to be able to speak truth to power. Our reading, writing, and public speaking curriculum supports that mission every day. Our assignments in these three areas of focus are all designed to hone rhetorical capabilities, and to stimulate the full joy of learning.
Publishing student work here at school, and in other venues is a top priority for us; the best way to understand the power of one’s voice is to use it in the wider world. Our literary magazine, Daemon, regular participation in national and international writing contests such as the Scholastic Writing Awards and The New York Times student contests, and our very own press, The Ethel Walker Every Woman Press, create a literary environment in which student voices are not just heard, but honored and celebrated.
The English Department faculty pledge to help students to become published authors and to be recognized for their excellent writing well beyond the school’s walls. A few of the writing and performance contests our students will participate in this year:
*Contest Walker’s students have won in the past
Dr. David Thacker P'24, '27
English Faculty, English Chair, and Director of Community Partnerships
Dr. David Thacker P'24, '27
Dave joined Walker’s in 2018 from Florida State University where he was completing his Ph.D. in Creative Writing and teaching English. He has enjoyed teaching for the past 11 years at the university level but was thrilled to join Walker’s where he spends more time focused on teaching and getting to know his students. A published poet, Dave earned a B.S. in English, summa cum laude, from Weber State University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from The University of Idaho. Dave is passionate about community partnerships and is the director of Walker’s Community Partnerships program.
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Carol Clark-Flanagan P'93, '97
History Faculty, English Faculty
Carol Clark-Flanagan P'93, '97
Growing up within sight and sound of the ocean on the South Shore of Massachusetts, Carol spent many hours racing sailboats where she learned to read and respond to wind shifts and current – capabilities she has relied on as equivalent experience teaching and advising students. She has taught and designed many courses in her 30+ years at Walker’s. Most of her time has been spent in the History Department, where she has taught every grade except seventh. Curriculum design and collaboration in the classroom stand out as the most rewarding parts of Carol’s job. She was part of a team of teachers from across four disciplines who envisioned and taught the innovative Environmental Studies course. She led the team that designed 9th Grade Seminar, the flagship of the seminar program that grew to encompass grades 9-12, and has recently been retooled for the Capabilities Approach curriculum. She is helping to break new ground in this endeavor with the design of the newest of these courses, Sustenance and Sustainability. After teaching 10th grade English for a decade, Carol is now taking on senior electives in that department. Increasingly, she believes in the power of student choice within as well as among courses. Carol has been a member of many task forces and is a recipient of the Natalie Galbraith Chair in the Humanities. She has served in a variety of administrative roles that include Chair of the History Department and Dean of Faculty. She was also a class advisor for twelve years.
Carol and her husband live off-campus. Two of their four children are Walker’s alumnae: Nan ’93 and Kate ’97. Carol is also active in town politics where she is a member of the SPIRIT Council formed to promote diversity and inclusion in Simsbury.
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Dr. Ned Edwards P’07, ’10
Executive Director of Walker's Capabilities Approach Program
Dr. Ned Edwards P’07, ’10
Dr. Ned Edwards P’07, ’10 earned his B.A. from the College of Wooster in psychology and religion, an M.Div. from Yale University with a focus on philosophical theology, and a D.Min. from Hartford Seminary in sociology and the history of American Protestantism. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, Ned has served four churches as senior minister, and has considerable experience in various capacities in secondary independent education including two other girls’ schools as chaplain, director of social services, teacher, dean of faculty, and assistant head. He has taught Hebrew scriptures, Christian scriptures, world religions, ethics, philosophy, advanced placement psychology, and school of rock: the history of American politics and rock and roll from 1950-2000. His commitment to girls’ schools and girls’ education was born out of his daughters’ experience at Walker’s, and is seen not only in his career choices but in his engagement with the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools and his co-authored, peer-reviewed article on adolescent girls’ brain development and spirituality which speaks to the unique ways adolescent girls process information, extrapolating to subjects far beyond spirituality. Ned lives in Simsbury with his wife, Gwen, and enjoys woodworking, learning luthier skills, building guitars, and boating.
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Ashley Canter Meredith
English Faculty
Ashley Canter Meredith
Megan Mulhern
Dean of Academics, English Faculty
Megan Mulhern
Prior to joining Walker’s, Megan (Danyliw) Mulhern taught several English courses at Westminster School and the YK Pao Secondary School in Shanghai, China. While at the YK Pao Secondary School she developed a school wide reading program. She also taught at The Lawrenceville School, The Emma Willard School and worked for the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University. Megan earned her B.A. in English from Brown University and her M.A. in Literature from Middlebury College.
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Erin Ott
English Faculty
Erin Ott
Erin joins Walker’s English Department as a fall semester substitute teacher for English faculty department chair Megan Mulhern. She is an adjunct professor of English at Hartford’s Capital Community College and a writing instructor at Goodwin University. Erin has worked extensively with students on composition and literature, and she has assisted students with honing their skills to write at the college level. Erin holds a Master of Arts in English Literature and Bachelor of Arts in English, Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Hofstra University.
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Julie Relyea
Assistant Director of College Counseling
Julie Relyea
Kim Harris Thacker P'24, '27
English Faculty, Archivist
Kim Harris Thacker P'24, '27
Kim Harris Thacker teaches 6th and 7th grade English at The Ethel Walker School and is the school’s archivist. She is a well-published magazine writer and essayist with a keen interest in history and community, and in connecting the past and the present through the medium of story. Born and raised in Wyoming, Kim has retained a love of the outdoors, which she shares with her husband, Walker’s Upper School English teacher Dr. David Thacker, and their two daughters, Molly and Liesel, who attend Walker’s as students.
As the flowers started to bloom, Walker’s welcomed Ada Limón to campus. She is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics…
Something Domestic, a short story written by Emilie McKenna ’24, has received a Gold Key from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Emilie’s story was one of only seven out…
Walker's came together on Wednesday, March 1 to pay tribute to William Shakespeare at the School’s sixth Shakespeare Fest.
Added to: Academics, All School, English
The Walker’s community welcomed distinguished author, playwright, educator, and first Poet-In-Residence at the Lincoln Center Mahogany L. Browne as our Fall 2022 Visiting Writer.
