Faculty & Staff

Amy is a licensed professional counselor who has spent the last 24 years counseling children and adolescents in both public and private schools. Amy is an accomplished academic and practitioner. 

 

Upon completing her Master of Science in counseling psychology and counselor education, Amy worked for Denver Public Schools at the elementary level implementing a Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education in response to rising concerns about youth violence, substance abuse and school safety.

 

Before joining the Westminster community, Amy served as the school counselor at the Kent School in Kent, Conn. During her tenure, she counseled and consulted with thousands of adolescents, their families and administration; created comprehensive mental health, wellness and counseling curricula; and taught wellness to students of all ages. Amy also has had a small private practice and is a clinical consultant with a social, emotional learning program.

 

Amy has brought a wealth of knowledge to the Westminster community about the importance of mental health in supporting student success. Her responsibilities include overseeing the entire mental health program including managing both individual and community mental health needs, student and faculty support consultation, and training, and supporting schoolwide wellness education programs.

 

After serving 32 years on the Westminster faculty as an English teacher and later as also the web manager, Scott returned in 2016 as the school’s archivist, managing the Westminster Archives. He is a lover of literature, an outstanding guitarist, a countertenor and a talented expert on technology. As a former English teacher, he likes to share his love of literature, and as a musician, he has performed as a soloist, as part of an ensemble and as a member of various choral groups. He is a founding member of the Woodland Scholars and of Collegium, a small ensemble dedicated to the performance of sacred Renaissance music. Prior to joining the Westminster community in 1983, he taught guitar privately for more than 10 years.
 

After graduating from Westminster School in 1996, Bethany attended Wittenberg University in Ohio, where she majored in education and was the recipient of the Silver Apple Award, an honor given to an education major who displays the qualities exemplified by Professor Emeritus of Education Virginia Lucas. She played on the women’s soccer team and sang in the Wittenberg Choir during her years there as well.

 

Bethany returned to her hometown of Simsbury, Conn., where she taught fourth grade at Squadron Line School. She then continued her teaching career in Arizona and New Jersey in a variety of roles within early childhood, elementary and special education.

 

During her time on the Hill, Bethany held many leadership roles. She served as a captain of the girls’ varsity soccer and basketball teams and was chorale co-president. She also helped lead the school as a member of the Prefect Board, serving as Junior Prefect. Bethany’s most treasured Westminster tradition is the Candlelight Service.

 

In addition to teaching Third Form English, Bethany serves as a corridor supervisor in Alumni House, where she lives with her husband Joe ’96 and their four children, Catherine ’23, Luke ’27, Gabriel and Tess. When she’s not cheering on one of her children, Bethany enjoys reading, volunteering and spending time outdoors.

After graduating from Westminster in 1996, Joe attended Loyola University in Baltimore, Md., where he was a four-year member of the lacrosse program as a long stick midfielder and defenseman. During his time at Loyola, Joe competed in the NCAA tournament all four years, reaching the Final Four in 1998. Joe also served as co-captain, earned the Unsung Hero Award and was named Honorable Mention All-American in 2000.

 

After graduating from Loyola in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Joe served on active duty in the U. S. Marine Corps from 2000 to 2004 and was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. He joined the Selected Marine Corps Reserve in 2008, taking part in Shared Accord in 2010 and Operation Enduring Freedom in 2012. Joe currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves.

 

At Westminster, Joe was a three-sport varsity athlete playing soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse. In addition to earning Defensive Player of the Year and All-American honors for lacrosse in 1996, he served as captain for all three teams his senior year.

 

Prior to Westminster, Joe worked in employee benefits sales and client management, most recently with Elevance Health Inc. He has also served as the Scotch Plains Fanwood Lacrosse Club Middle School Boys’ Coach since 2011 and has been a member of the board since 2014.

 

In addition to his responsibilities as head coach of the Varsity Boys’ Lacrosse program, Joe will work in the advancement office as Director of Alumni Engagement and Giving. Joe is married to the former Bethany Noel Tracey ’96. They have four children, Catherine ’23, Luke ’27, Gabriel and Tess.

Kathryn “Kate” Rogers is a veteran of the college counseling profession with proven experience helping students and parents navigate the dynamics of college admissions.

 

Ms. Rogers brings years of admission and college counseling experience in a variety of secondary and higher education environments at public, private and parochial institutions to Westminster. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross, she began her professional career in college admissions at Fordham University, where she worked in every capacity of the office recruiting and reviewing applications. Upon completion of her master’s in school counseling at Fordham, she served as director of guidance at St. Francis DeSales High School (Columbus, Ohio) and as a school counselor at Simsbury High School. Most recently Ms. Rogers has served as an admission reader for the Cornell University College of Engineering. In addition, she has been a tutor for Westminster students.

 

As a parent, Ms. Rogers has experienced the college process firsthand, most recently supporting her youngest as she matriculated to Boston College. Ms. Rogers is passionate about college counseling and enjoys being on the journey of self-discovery with students and families.

 

Kate lives in Simsbury with her husband, Jim. They have three children — Elizabeth, Jack and Amelia — and love to walk their goldendoodle, Patch, on campus.

While growing up in Houston, Texas, Rachel trained as a professional ballet dancer and attend the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts until moving to Hartford to attend The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, for her BFA. Before coming to Westminster, Rachel danced with Ballet Hartford and ran her professional photography business, Rachel A. Photography. In recent years, Rachel’s photographic work has been published in both “Dance Magazine” and “Hartford Style.” In the fall of 2021, she started working as a dance teacher and choreographer at Westminster before being named a faculty member for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

 

As of Fall 2024, Rachel is the Director of Dance. She teaches dance as an academic class as well as coordinate the Dance Afternoon Program. As a member of the visual arts faculty, Rachel teaches Introduction to Photography, Advanced Photography, AP 2D Art & Design (Photography). 

 

In her free time, Rachel enjoys playing with her doodle Maisie, hiking, biking, [Solidcore] (a type of Pilates) classes, and traveling — always with a camera in hand!

Shana brings to Westminster extensive experience working in college counseling and competitive college admissions from around the globe. She is a graduate of Trinity College with a B.A. in English and earned an M.Ed. in international counseling from Lehigh University. She started her educational career in college admissions, working as an assistant director of admissions at both Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and then Trinity College. After five years, she made the move to college counseling, serving as a college counselor at Taipei American School, then director of college counseling and AP® coordinator at Asia Pacific International School in Seoul and head of college counseling at Dubai American Academy. Shana has also recently written the curriculum for a new certificate in college counseling for Lehigh University.