Prep faculty and staff will be missed as they move on to new adventures.
For the last 35 years, Glen Beattie has been a fixture in science classrooms, on the field and on the road—wherever Prep students are. Known for his sense of humor, with a repertoire that ranges from groaners to gut-busters, he has taught 9th grade science and senior physics, coached football and/or soccer every year, and was the advisor to the rock climbing club, the martial arts club and the roller hockey club. Beattie was the head coach of the 1989 CIF championship 8-man football team and served on the coaching staff for the 2003 11-man championship team. In retirement, Beattie will have the luxury of time…sort of. “I’ve been on the bell system since kindergarten,” he says. “It will be nice to sleep in and have no place special to be for a change.” However, when he’s not traveling with his wife, Kathy, Beattie will be part of Prep for the foreseeable future, helping with admissions, class trips, ACL and various projects for the athletics department.
Dr. Robbie Green has served as Prep’s mental health consultant since 2001. Meeting with students and parents, as well as faculty and staff, she has worked with anyone in the Prep community who has needed help navigating the ins and outs of life, be they adolescents or adults. With additional time available each week, Green will increase her volunteer hours in cat adoption services at the Pasadena Humane Society and at Shambhala, a meditation center in Eagle Rock. She also will continue to counsel Prep faculty and staff in her “soft” retirement and maintain her private practice in Pasadena, while making time for extended vacations. An avid traveler who has been all over the world, her first excursion will be a 25-day trip to Japan with her husband.
Susan Hodge has been a librarian for 42 years, the last 19 of them at Prep. Always a lover of books, libraries, reading and teaching, she has wanted to be a librarian since she was 12. Hodge collaborated on the creation of Prep’s Chandramohan Library, which opened in 2007. Its warm and welcoming atmosphere on the lower floor, where collaboration and group work is encouraged, is by design, as is the top-floor quiet area. Hodge’s other passion, besides libraries, students and books, is tennis. In 2017, she will travel to Australia for the Open—something she has never been able to do because it’s in January, when school is in session. She’s also planning to be in Maui on September 3, 2016—“in case I feel a little blue.” Hodge was the recipient of such tributes as a lei from parents, a book of student reminiscences and a life-size cutout of one of her best Halloween costumes, for which she and the other librarians are legends.
Prep also says farewell to College Counseling Associate Claire Kinder ’08, who started working at Prep in 2013. She will be attending Boston University to earn her master’s in art history in the fall.
French teacher Jennifer Murphy, who has been at Prep since 2012, will return to her family roots in Pennsylvania, commuting from Philadelphia to Moorestown, NJ, to teach French and Spanish.
Dr. Claire Thomas, who started teaching chemistry at Prep in the fall of 2013, is moving to Berlin with her 3-year-olddaughter and her husband, who is pursuing post-doctoral work in physical chemistry