Prep Journeys: Kathleen Hennessy

Education is in Physics teacher Kathleen Hennessy’s DNA. Her mother Maureen was the first-ever guidance counselor at Ancillae-Assumpta Academy and met Kathleen’s father Larry when they both taught at Bishop McDevitt High School. Though she is one of the newer members of the Prep faculty, she is no stranger to the classroom. 

She has spent time at several prestigious private high schools as well as Saint Joseph’s University. About to start her third year at 17th & Girard, Hennessy brings that experience and much more into the classroom to benefit Prep students.

From elementary school on, Hennessy was attracted to STEM. “I loved math in school, it was my absolute favorite and I dedicated myself to being as close to perfect as I could,” she says, discussing her time at Ancillae and then at Archbishop Wood High School. “I joined Mathletes and then pursued chemistry and physics at Wood.”

She received the Clare Booth Luce Scholarship to Seton Hall, a full scholarship including room and board and books meant to encourage women in STEM. Initially she was attracted to nuclear physics, but a summer internship at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State changed her mind. “I remember being a little intimidated by the incredible intelligence of the people studying and working in those labs,” she says. 

She soon discovered astrophysics. And it all happened because she was being a good friend.

“In my senior year, there was a friend in my sorority who was in danger of failing out of school,” Hennessy recalls. “She needed to take an astronomy class for her science requirement and asked if I would take it with her. I had some openings in my schedule and it sounded interesting so I enrolled.”

That act of kindness opened up a new world to Hennessy. “I fell in love with it,” she says, “and I knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Soon after, she applied for a graduate program in the astrophysics department at Michigan State. During her studies there, she worked as a teaching assistant, which was run partly in a planetarium. This was her very first exposure to teaching and she really enjoyed it. After receiving her Master’s, she joined the faculty at Merion Mercy Academy as a physics teacher. 

“The first year was hard for me,” she says. “I was so new, I didn’t know what I didn’t know and I took over for a beloved teacher. But, by the second year, I had found my groove and absolutely loved it.”

In her third year, Hennessy was invited to an Open House of the Department of Physics at Saint Joseph’s University for high school teachers. There she met the chair of the department who invited her to apply for a position of lab coordinator. “It was one of those moments when you think, ‘what the heck’ and try it,” Hennessy says. “I thought I had no chance of getting that job.” 

She proved herself wrong and received a job offer. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up but it was still a difficult decision. “I was crying in the office at MMA when I told them I was leaving,” she says. “I loved Merion, I loved the girls there, and I was so grateful they gave me the opportunity to teach there right out of grad school. It was a very tough decision.”

Hennessy spent eight years at SJU. “I grew a lot professionally and really enjoyed the work,” she says. In addition to her work in the labs, she was tasked with creating and transforming a physics class for non-majors, adding a lab component. She is proud to say that “it remains the most popular science course for non-majors at SJU” and she continues to teach it as an adjunct professor. But another change was on the horizon.

As the head of the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers, she received an email from Mount St. Joseph Academy looking for an emergency substitute physics teacher. Though she was unable to take the role then, it opened up her mind to the school. “I had such respect for the Mount and thought that if I would ever go back into high school teaching, that would be a great place to be.” That May, the school was looking for a full-time teacher and she applied. 

“Same thing, it can’t hurt to interview,” she remembers thinking. Again, she underestimated herself and received an offer that she again took after difficult deliberation. “I was sad leaving SJU but working at the Mount was like heaven,” she says. “The girls were wonderful and so incredibly talented. In a lot of ways, I felt like I did my best work there.”

However, staff changes at the Mount left her a bit unmoored. When an opportunity to teach at the Prep came up, she applied for it. “I applied on a Wednesday and got a call on Thursday setting up an interview the following Monday,” she says. “It was a quick process but I saw that the possibility of working here was another one that I could not pass up.”

One thing she felt in the interview was the Prep’s desire to feed students’ academic pursuits even beyond the curriculum. “I want students to exceed my knowledge, to push for more,” she said. “I felt like the Prep would be creative in supporting students who want to study beyond what the curriculum offers.”

She was also attracted to the Prep’s Mission and Ministry Department. “I was very impressed and glad that it is thriving with so many opportunities for students and adults to be involved,” she says. 

Again the first year was a tough transition. All of Hennessy’s high school teaching experience came at all-girls schools. “I knew that teaching boys and girls would be different but I wasn’t prepared for how different,” she says. “It forced me to reevaluate everything about how I teach, how I interact with students. I felt that I was very good at teaching girls but this was new. I learned to embrace that challenge and learn how to be better.”

Hennessy relied on colleagues at the Prep, especially those in her department and other women teachers at the school. She also reached out to other physics teachers, including a friend who taught at an all-boys school in Virginia. “He jokingly said that teenage boys are like puppies: they need to know that you love them and that you are in charge,” she says laughing.

In year two, Hennessy felt more comfortable, using her incredible knowledge of the subject mixed with humor. “I got a piece of advice from (ASC Member) Brett Geiss ’19 who said that the Prep needs characters so be yourself,” she says. “That helped me feel more confident in using my sense of humor, which I think is hilarious, with my students and I have found that helps make a connection.” Hennessy added that she appreciated that “students here are happy, they like school, and they like to be challenged.”

In addition to her work in the classroom, Hennessy’s other academic passion is being a reader for the AP Physics exam. In her sixth year, she has become a leader in the group, a goal of hers when she began in 2020. 

“I have learned so much that makes me a better physics teacher in all ways,” she says. “It gives me an opportunity to see what skills are essential, what knowledge is essential, and how my students can maximize their efforts.” 

It has also given her a community of other experienced teachers to bounce ideas off of. “When we were looking to reinvigorate the freshman Physics curriculum, I leaned heavily on a colleague I knew from that group who is a real expert on teaching physics,” she says. “It has proved to be extremely helpful.”

As a lifelong learner, Hennessy applied to a summer workshop for science and engineering teachers at MIT. In addition to lectures from prominent MIT professors, she joined with other physics teachers to learn more about using games to enhance learning in STEM. 

“The workshop gave me a lot of food for thought,” she says. The game that she and the group designed will be incorporated into her classes. “It was good to learn something that will benefit the students and help engage them in new ways.”

“Being a lifelong learner has brought me so many amazing and enriching experiences throughout my professional and personal life, and I hope to instill that in all of my students as well.”