New Penn Independent Teaching Fellows Join Lawrenceville Faculty

Four new University of Pennsylvania Independent School Teaching Residency Fellows will join Lawrenceville 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. 

Rebekah Crane is a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University where she double majored in Secondary Education and Chemistry. As an undergraduate, she was vice president of Vanderbilt’s Kappa Delta Pi chapter, a mentoring society for future teachers. Crane was also the Training Co-Chair of Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science, an education research assistant, and a mentor for first-year students. During her senior year, she was a private chemistry teacher with Prep Source Tutors and Marketing Coordinator for Biostem Education, both in Nashville, Tenn.

At her alma mater, Oakland Christian High School (Auburn Hills, Mich.), she holds the softball team’s pitching record for career strikeouts, was a four-time team MVP, and three-time team captain. In 2018, she won the Michigan state championship with her travel team.

Scott Hallyburton is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where he was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. His undergraduate research focused on developing and proving theorems related to Brunel’s operator, a topic in Ergodic Theory and he was co-author of a published research paper, “New Estimates on the Bounds of Brunel’s Operator.”  Hallyburton presented original research at the Chapel Hill Ergodic Theory Workshop, an international mathematics conference. In addition, he was the lead instructor for the Chapel Hill Math Circle and organized biweekly student workshops on math topics outside the scope of a standard K-12 curriculum. He also served as the Academic Chair for the Carolina Math Club and planned weekly meetings in math-related topics, including student/faculty talks, workshops, and social events. During his senior year, Hallyburton organized and moderated a graduate school panel with the UNC Chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics.

In high school, Scott earned two prestigious distinctions and was recognized by the Boy Scouts of America as an Eagle Scout and was also selected as a National Merit Scholar. 

Jason Leong graduated from Colby College with a bachelor of arts degree in History and Biology. During his senior year at Colby, Leong completed an honors thesis in history studying the development of national identity in colonial Myanmar. This project earned him the Jack D. Foner Prize for best undergraduate history thesis. As a Colby undergraduate, Leong was a member of the Student Government Association and History Department Review Board, as well as Hope Happens Here Colby (which works to destigmatize mental health issues for student-athletes). He also served as a mentor in the Colby Cares About Kids program. Leong was a member of Colby’s varsity rowing team and worked as a summer coach for Community Rowing Inc. in Brighton, Mass. Last summer, he was a teaching assistant at the Brewster Academy Royal Thai Scholar Program where he taught courses in history and scientific writing.

Gabrielle Lescadre is a recent graduate of Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.), earning her A.B. in English with honors. As a student, she curated her first book of poetry, prose, art, and creative writing. She was a peer mentor and her duties included co-teaching three classes of transfer students (under the supervision of a faculty advisor) and serving as on-call crisis responder for her mentees. Lescadre won the Rollins English Department’s highest honor, the General Charles Reeve award for excellence in writing. She is a graduate of The Frederick Gunn School (Washington Dept., Conn.), where she was a prefect.

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