Kelly Newman to study abroad for a year

Kelly Newman, the Communication Arts Program drama teacher, theater instructor and director of school plays, is leaving Blair for a year to study abroad in England.

Newman's contract ensures that she will still have a position in a Montgomery County school when she returns from her studies in 2006. "I am just taking a year off. I'm not leaving the school system for good," Newman assures. Currently, no one is assigned to direct the after-school plays in her place. "It could even be a science or math teacher," Newman says.

This is the second year that Newman has thought about leaving Blair. "I was considering taking off the current year to audition for the Shakespeare Company in Virginia," says Newman. She eventually decided against this idea because the project would have ended when the next school year had already begun, and she would not have been guaranteed her job at Blair.

Since she is a ten-year Blair veteran, Newman feels she needs some more variety in life. "I was just starting to get the sense that I needed to do something different," she says. In the past, she has participated in summer courses to "pump up her enthusiasm to return in the fall," but her love for England has convinced her to leave for a year.

Consequently, Newman is returning to the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford upon Avon, where she received her masters degree years before. There, she will be studying to get her Ph.D. in Shakespearean clothing. Newman is excited to continue her education overseas. "There is so much about dress in Shakespeare," she says. Newman hopes to enrich her future drama classes with her education.

For more information, click here.