Lawrenceville Welcomes 2024-25 Penn Teaching Fellows

Four new University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellows will join the Lawrenceville faculty this fall. These aspiring and early teachers are earning their master’s degrees in education while completing an intensive, two-year teaching fellowship at Lawrenceville.

The Fellows work under the direction of an experienced Lawrenceville faculty mentor as teachers as well as coaches or Community Service department assistants. Each Fellow receives a House assignment, where he or she learns about (and becomes an important part of) Lawrenceville's dynamic residential life curriculum. In addition to their Lawrenceville duties, the Fellows are learning - and bringing back to campus – the most current research on best educational practices through their studies at Penn.

Lake H. Barrett, Science Department (University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellow)

College of Wooster (Wooster, Ohio): Bachelor of Arts in biology and education

Lake Barrett was most recently an Interim Biology Teacher at Tower Hill School (Wilmington, Delaware), where he taught Biology and Honors Biology. Prior to this, he was a student teacher of biology at Wooster High School (Wooster, Ohio), where he taught biology. As an undergraduate, he was part of The College of Wooster’s STEM Success Initiative where, as an intern, he tutored and mentored other biology students. He also served as a teaching assistant, a vertebrate biology research assistant, and a Plant Ecology Lab assistant in the College’s Biology Department. Barrett was a member of The College of Wooster’s football team, where he was three times a College Sports Communicators Academic All-American and holds multiple school kicking records.

Taliha De Ochoa, English Department (University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellow)

Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA): Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor in Education and Latin American Studies

Taliha De Ochoa served as an eighth grade teaching fellow for Breakthrough Collaborative (an educational non-profit) for five years and was the ELA Department Head for three years. In her sixth year with the organization, she worked as the Special Events Coordinator to execute and supervise events such as Role Model Speakers, Career Fair, and University Visit Field Trips. At Occidental College, De Ochoa worked as a teaching assistant for freshman university students to create and preserve an Oral History Project on Clinica Romero’s impact on Migrant Health in Los Angeles. De Ochoa was also an active member and Co-President of Occidental College’s Latino Student Union, being awarded Student Organization of the Year twice.

Erin Farrell, History Department, (University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellow)

Georgetown University (Washington, DC): Bachelor of Arts in History and Sociology, Minor in Statistics

 Erin Farrell completed her undergraduate degree at Georgetown in May, 2024. While a student, she worked at several non-profit organizations, including Grassroots Health, Hilltop Microfinance Initiative, and YMCA Camp Mohawk. She did summer internships in the Suffolk County (NY) District Attorney’s Office and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice. Farrell was a coxswain for the Georgetown University men’s varsity rowing team, twice earning Intercollegiate Rowing Association All-Academic honors.

Thomas Hamblet, Mathematics Department, (University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellow)

Yale University (New Haven, CT): Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Data Science/Bachelor of Arts in Economics

Thomas Hamblet is a recent graduate of Yale University where, in addition to his studies, he was a Tobin undergraduate research assistant for sports analytics, an undergraduate learning assistant in the Statistics department, and a first-year counselor. He spent last summer as a quantitative analyst for Munich Ergo Asset Management. Hamblet was the captain of Yale’s Roundnet team and has also coached youth soccer and tennis.

For additional information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.