Administration & Faculty
ANDREW DILLON
andrew[a]bluehillharborschool.org
Head of School, Director of Admissions and College Counseling, Math & Science Educator
M.S. in Education Leadership Administration, University of Maine at Farmington
M.S. in Traditional Chinese Medicine, American College for Traditional Chinese Medicine
B.A. in Music, Bennington College
Andrew has been integral to the growth and stability of the school since 2009. He began his BHHS career teaching math, later adding science and music. Over the years, he collaborated with previous BHHS Heads of School to develop and refine the school’s approach to project-based learning, and attract the skilled faculty necessary to implement its program. The students’ progress delights him, and he maintains contact with many of the school’s graduates.
Careful and conscientious, curious and always learning, Andrew isn’t shy to try something new or challenge himself to do something better. He’ s never without a lot of reading material, a self-taught woodworker, an enthusiastic cook, and boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of 80’s dance music. While quiet by nature, he makes plenty of sound behind a drum set, and is a regular member of the Soulbenders.
Andrew and his wife are parents to four grown children and have lived in Blue Hill for 28 years.
KATAMA MURRAY
katama[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Visual Arts educator
B.F.A. in Printmaking, Plymouth State University
M.F.A. in Printmaking, Indiana University
Katama Murray (she/her) is an eco artist, educator, naturalist, and small business owner from Blue Hill and Brooklin, Maine. While living and studying throughout regions of New England and the Midwest, she has always been influenced by the outdoors and the ways in which we coexist with the natural world. Utilizing locally foraged natural materials, she layers print and fiber processes to visually communicate ideas, observations, and perpetual experimentation. With a passion for slow, multidisciplinary making, she strives to learn and teach together with her students, hoping to inspire others to become more connected to the earth through the power of art and community. In her spare time, Katama enjoys gardening, photography, swimming, being outdoors with friends and family, and enjoying the magic of this peninsula.
CHRIS PIRSOS
chris[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Music Educator
B.A. in English & Philosophy, Clark University
Christopher Pirsos is a musician & composer based in Blue Hill, Maine. He's originally from northeastern New Jersey, about an hour bus ride from NYC. After learning the fundamentals of reading music in middle school, he picked the saxophone back up again as an adult after falling in love with jazz. He got a job at the Strand Bookstore and moved to Brooklyn & then Queens after graduating college so that he could go to as many art galleries, museums, and concerts as possible. He moved up to Maine in 2019, where he amassed a studio's worth of musical instruments and microphones (which he is still adding to). Since then, he's performed solo in a variety of settings while also giving private lessons for saxophone, drums, and improvisation. His formal studies include lessons with saxophonist Steve Kortyka (Lady Gaga) and NYC drummer Dan Weiss.
JESSICA BOOTH
jessica[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Bookkeeper & Administrative Assistant
B.A. in Urban Studies, Bryn Mawr College
Jessica was born and raised in Annapolis, MD. In 2004, she moved from Philadelphia to join the rest of her family on the Blue Hill Peninsula. Her background is in project management, but since moving, she has held a variety of jobs at boatyards, restaurants, and small manufacturers, and also kind of learned to ski. She’d like to get back into singing one of these days. Jessica lives in Brooksville with her husband and her son (a senior at GSA) and daughter (a freshman at BHHS).
DANIEL BOSE
danielb[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Math Educator
Graduate Certificate in Weather and Climate Risk and Data Analytics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
M.A. in Mathematics, Missouri State University
B.A. in Comprehensive Mathematics, Missouri State University
Daniel brings a strong background in mathematics instruction. He holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics with complementary experience in physics and microeconomics. Daniel has extensive knowledge of relevant computer coding languages and math writing programs. In addition, he is certified in weather and climate risk data analytics; this background will expose students to statistical tools in evaluating real-time issues. Daniel is a recent arrival from the Midwest, and is an outdoorsman when not calculating and coding.
BRITTANY COURTOT
brittany[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Social Studies & History Educator, Admissions/College Placement/Student Advisor
B.A. in Education, University of Maine Farmington
Brittany Courtot is an original. An original BHHS student, now alum. An original thinker, who raises meaningful questions regarding social studies and its connection to the community’s local history.
Brittany was born and raised on the Peninsula, in both Brooklin and Blue Hill, and has been teaching at the Harbor School for six years. Educated in the project-based model, she exemplifies the many qualities of a BHHS curriculum. Fascinated by both history’s big themes along with the smallest details of a historical event, she captures the imaginations of students and provides a vivid social studies experience. In addition to teaching, she serves as a student advisor for both high school planning as well as future pursuits.
In her spare time, Brittany enjoys going for walks outside, drinking Scottish Breakfast Tea while sketching, or adding to her growing horde of elephant paraphernalia. Brittany is known for her playful clothing style, sporting a different bow tie every day of the week.
LEE LEHTO
lee[at]bluehillharborschool.org
English Educator
M.A. in Teaching Secondary English, University of Maine Orono
M.A. in Writing and the Teaching of Writing, University of Maine Orono [candidate]
Lee Lehto joined the Blue Hill Harbor School in 2017. She is an avid reader and sometime poet who believes in the value of writing as a means of making thought visible and communicating with others across time and cultures. Previously, Lee taught English at Deer Isle Stonington High School for ten years and at George Stevens Academy for three years. She has lived in East Blue Hill since 1975.
BILL McWEENY
Science Educator
M. Ed., Harvard Graduate School of Education
B.S., Northeastern University
Bill McWeeny has been studying Marine Science since before it was offered as a separate subject in Universities. He researched the marine borer, Limnoria, in high school and carried on his studies at Northeastern University’s Nahant Marine Laboratory as an undergraduate. The Vietnam War forced Bill into teaching and he found his true passion.
Now, in his sixth decade of teaching science, Bill is more excited than ever to share his knowledge with his students. Bill has taken part in many National Science Foundation projects including the 1972 Tilton Environmental Curriculum Guide and the 1990’s Global Laboratory Project that connected science classrooms around the world via a new technology, the Internet. In the 2010’s he spent a decade working on curriculum development at University of Maine Orono’s RISE Center.
In 1983 Bill volunteered for the New England Aquarium’s Right Whale Research Team. He has been a member of the field team in Lubec during the month of August for the past twenty-five years. Bill has been directing The CALVIN Project at Adams School in Castine for the last twenty years. He considers the joining of his teaching with right whale research through The CALVIN Project the biggest accomplishment of his career as an educator.
PAM MORGENTHALER-NANSON
pam[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Athletic Director, Academic Support
B.S., Georgetown University
Pam began her involvement with education teaching and coaching basketball in Jersey City, New Jersey. She and her husband moved up to Maine when their two boys began school and Pam remained involved in education through tutoring, coaching and volunteering.
She finds joy spending time with her husband and boys as well as returning to New Jersey to visit her parents, sisters, nieces, nephews and their rescue animals. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, tennis and skiing.
Pam and her husband Brian were married at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
MARY KATE SMALL
mksmall[at]bluehillharborschool.org
French Educator
B.A. in Human Rights (B.D.I.C) & French, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
In seventh grade Mary Kate Small started learning French and was soon hooked. Her inspiring Parisian high school teacher remains a beloved friend at 96. One of her hopes in teaching foreign languages to school-age students is that they may eventually be able to communicate meaningfully in something other than their native tongue. Another is to share cultural information that may not be gleaned elsewhere.
Because of her ability to communicate in French and Spanish, Mary Kate has helped people randomly in airports and bus terminals, and locally with refugees turned friends. She has championed social justice throughout her adulthood. A resident of Camden, she has served on Pax Christi USA’s National council and, as a French speaker, helped Congolese refugees transition to life in Maine.
KELSI STEMBEL
kelsi[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Writing Educator
B.A. in Anthropology and Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University
M.Ed., University of Tennessee Knoxville
Kelsi Stembel (she/her) is a farmer, teacher, and a mother of two. After teaching Reading and English in public schools for 10 years, she pivoted to farming and homeschooling her two children, one currently attending BHHS and the other studying English at University of Maryland. Kelsi is passionate about lifelong learning and inclusive education.
Her favorite books are the Little House series, Braiding Sweetgrass, and The Secret Life of Trees. She recently moved to Blue Hill from Frederick, MD with her youngest child, their dog, four cats, two ducks, and three geese.
BEN THELWELL
benthelwell[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Outdoor Adventure Counselor
B.A. & B.S., University of Maryland, College Park
M.Ed./CAS, University of Maine Orono
Ben is a National Certified Counselor and a National Certified School Counselor. He is also conditionally licensed as a Clinical Professional Counselor in the State of Maine. Before working as a School Counselor, Ben enjoyed an extensive career in experiential education, which included working as an Outward Bound instructor, directing several outdoor adventure programs, and co-founding The Maine State Sea Kayak Guide Service. He was also a lecturer in psychology and sociology for The American University of Vietnam, where he designed the school’s counseling center.
Ben lists art appreciation and the study of mythology as his primary interests. He still enjoys offshore sea kayaking and maintains his license as a Master Registered Maine Sea Kayak Guide.
DIANE FOGLIZZO
diane[at]bluehillharborschool.org
Health Educator
B.S. in Nursing, University of Maine Fort Kent
B.S. in Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Diane lives in Orland, Maine with her partner and their kids. For over 20 years she has been passionate about building communities of care and creativity through mutual aid projects, labor organizing, music education and reproductive justice. In addition to teaching this fall, she works as a nurse assisting a local midwife and with a feminist health care clinic. She swims year round and plays music and sings whenever she can.