Spotlighting A Few of The Beloved Departing Faculty
In this pandemic era, we’ve all had ample time to reflect and look inward at our priorities and intentions. With a life that seems to move too fast for any time to reflect, this pause in operations led to many individuals reflecting on the trajectory of their career, and, consequently, many changed or altered their long-held path to success. Within our own community, a handful of teachers have decided to end their time at Galloway in pursuit of something bigger. While each has their own specific reasons for leaving, this internal reflection is a common thread throughout the departing faculty, and we can do nothing but admire their vulnerability and choices, as well as the mark they’ve left on our community. The Elliott staff has chosen to honor four Upper Learning teachers leaving the Galloway faculty next year for their great contributions inside the classroom and out. We thank them, as both student journalists and members of the Galloway community, for the immense impact they have had on our education and wish them nothing but joy and prosperity in their futures.
Madame Belfi
Anyone who’s taken Scottie Belfi’s class knows it’s a different kind of class. Even those who haven’t had the opportunity know that Madame Belfi is the kind of teacher who goes beyond the classroom. Her handmade signs are always found in the stands of every game, her favorite French pop music is always blaring through the Stonehouse hallway, and her voice can always be heard giving words of encouragement and support to any student, regardless of whether they take French. After seven years of enriching the Galloway experience, Madame Belfi has decided to move onto the next chapter of her life, not because she doesn’t want to teach anymore, but because she is excited to embark on an array of new adventures.
Prior to coming to Galloway, Madame Belfi taught part-time at Riverwood International Charter School and had a myriad of other commitments while raising her two daughters. One day, she bumped into Galloway’s former director of admissions, Elizabeth King, who informed her of an opening for a French teacher at Galloway. “I said ‘Oh no, no, no. I play ALTA Tennis on Thursdays, and I have all my volunteer responsibilities,’” she explained. “And [King] said ‘Just come talk to Gordon Mathis!’” When Madame Belfi came to then-principal Mr. Mathis’ office, the lure of Galloway was just irresistible, and she began teaching in the fall of 2014.
To say Madame Belfi has changed the Galloway French department would be an understatement to end all understatements. In fact, when she began teaching, the Galloway administration had considered eliminating the French program altogether. “The program had gotten so small that when I started here I was teaching 7th-12th -- every French class on campus.” Regardless of the numbers, Madame Belfi saw this as a healthy challenge and was that much more motivated to build the richest, strongest French program there could be. Every year after, more and more students sought out French courses, which eventually led to three French teachers teaching full-time.
It’s important to explain why this program has grown the way it has. It’s not because it looks great on a transcript or gives a boost in GPA. Students take French because they love it. Madame Belfi has been able to create a class that is challenging and rigorous but not because she assigns hours of homework or makes students memorize hundreds of vocab words; the class is hard because each student has to find a way to make it theirs. “I always tell my students at the beginning of the year that French is not a class they’re taking, but it’s a part of the person you’re becoming.”
A major reason why students love taking Madame Belfi’s French class has been her integration of French correspondents in southwest France. Since February of her first school year at Galloway, Madame Belfi has fostered exchange between Galloway and a school in a small beach town in France called Lisée Saint Elme. Madame Belfi explained, “The flavor and the real-life motivation that the exchange provided to our program was just, like, the special sauce!” French students from Saint Elme have visited Galloway back and forth for six years, and for Atlanta students that haven’t been able to physically go abroad or host a student, videos and messages are regularly incorporated into Belfi’s class to allow students to see how real the language they’re learning is.
While Madame Belfi has always loved her job, she realized over the past year in quarantine that her devotion to teaching was holding her back from other opportunities in the francophone universe. “I have some great opportunities in France that I’ve just had to put on the backburner to be fully engaged, really 24-7, 365 days a year, in Galloway,” she explained. With her daughters off at college and her husband able to work from home, the world is Madame Belfi’s oyster as she’ll have the freedom to travel and explore as she likes. Her wide network of friends will certainly supplement her journey post-Galloway; one example she gave was a colleague that owns a soup kitchen in Bordeaux and how she would love to be able to take time to fly out and volunteer for extended periods of time.
But Madame Belfi will never teach anywhere else. She has adored every second of her job at Galloway and is leaving, as she says, at the top of her game. “My mom used to say to me, ‘Scottie, darling, we have to leave the party while we’re still having fun.’” she says in a deep Southern accent. Of course, this makes her departure that much more bittersweet, but she would rather leave on a high than burnt out. “It’s like a yes-and,” she explained. “Yes I love it so much. Yes I wake up every morning at 5’o’clock excited about teaching. And I want to create some more space in my life to do other things.”
While no one could replace Madame Belfi and her magic, she affirms that her successors are a “dream team” and are more than capable of sustaining the momentum she has created in the Stonehouse. She is eternally grateful for the support of her students, families, colleagues, and administrators and is grateful to have had the privilege of teaching her own way and on her own terms. “My time here has been magical,” she says glowingly. “I’ve had an absolute blast and couldn’t wish for anything more… but if not now, when?”
By Annie Levy
Dr. Vieron
Dr. Vieron has been at Galloway for seven years now and has quickly become a beloved member of the Galloway community. As a Latin student myself, I can safely say that Dr. Vieron’s Latin classes have often been the highlight of my day and that he is one of the most amazing teachers that I have had the privilege of knowing. However, Dr. Vieron didn’t always plan on becoming a Latin teacher; he started out his journey as a psychology major, which is what he’s circling back to now. He originally switched to Latin after seeing a classmate fill out a verb chart, and deciding it looked like something he wanted to do. In our interview, however, he did say that coming to Galloway for what was originally supposed to be just one year was “the best decision [he] ever made.”
Dr. Vieron’s journey will next take him back to the world of psychology, where he will have the training and knowledge to help adolescents in ways he was previously unable to. He stated that “there were several experiences at Galloway where the opportunity presented itself to help a student… but there’s only so much a Latin teacher can do.” He says that he wants to help people and that Galloway has helped shape him into “a unique therapist.” While he acknowledges that switching careers at 39-years-old is scary, he also feels that it’s not starting over - it’s building off of who he has become at Galloway. He explained, “I always say, you know, Galloway is a place where students find out who they are and become that person. Well, I can say for me as a teacher, it was the same.”
While we will all miss Dr. Vieron dearly, I feel I can safely speak for all of us when I say we are thrilled to see him setting such a great example for us by following his passions in helping adolescents. When I asked him if there was anything that he wanted to share before leaving, he said, “I’m really grateful to the community… it’s bittersweet… I’m not leaving because it’s the end, I’m leaving because it’s a transition.” He quickly added, laughing, “I’m not going anywhere! I plan on coming back to visit and being that teacher.”
Ms. Cramer
“Bye Ms. Cramer! Thank you!” echoes through the Galloway Black Box at the conclusion of class together. After an hour and a half of moving and dancing, students leave the Galloway Black Box on a Wednesday evening with their hair sweaty, limbs flexible, and smiles active. Sally Cramer, Galloway Dance’s founder and fearless leader, responds to the thank-yous with a classic “Bye guys!” and a laugh as I sit down to speak with her. After 16 years and countless performances, technique classes, rehearsals, costume fittings, and pliés, Sally Cramer retires from the Black Box with nothing but gratitude and love.
Prior to taking on the title of Ms. Cramer, Sally Cramer was one thing first: a Galloway parent. With three children in Early Learning in the early 2000s, she took on the role of a mom full-time while integrating teaching dance in private studios as much as she could. With dance classes primarily taking place in the afternoons, squarely during her children’s pick-up time, dance fell to the back burner for a while. One afternoon, Ms. Cramer found herself chatting with the then Middle Learning principal Phil Wendel outside of the Flik building when he found out about her dance background and asked if she would be open to teaching a nine week ML elective. She agreed enthusiastically and ended up teaching a group of 8th graders in a ML classroom with the tables moved out of the way. She reflects that they “just had so much fun!”
“What stood out to me was that I had never taught students like Galloway students,” she said. “I was blown away by the creativity, and, just, artistically, I had always worked with people at the same level in a studio setting. This was just really different and really fun.” At the end of that elective, the students requested they continue what they had started for another nine weeks, and this was really the beginning of Galloway Dance. Ms. Cramer organically went from just teaching middle school electives to choreographing ML and UL musicals to creating a full after-school dance ensemble with two performances a year.
What has allowed Ms. Cramer’s Dance Ensemble to sustain itself is its way of embracing every dancer regardless of differences. In a dance world that is oftentimes uptight and competitive, to have a group of dancers who are able to get together and just create art is a really special thing. At Galloway, every dancer has a “dancer body” with just as much creative and athletic potential as someone who trains 20 hours a week. Having come from choreographing primarily in private studios, this appreciation was something that grew with Ms. Cramer as more years at Galloway went by. “I think that I have opened my eyes more and more and more, every single year, how beautiful [dance] is on every kind of body and person.” she said. “I find choreography on dancers of all different levels equally interesting as dancers who are all the same level… there’s just something beautiful and interesting about it.”
Intangibly, Dance Ensemble has served as a means of expression for Galloway students. But tangibly, one can see a symbol of this expression in the very ballet barres that line the walls. In 2010, an adored Galloway student named Ben Chanin, involved actively in both dance and theater, died of suicide, and the ballet barres were donated in his name for his love of dance and performance. “I just hope people remember and think about how everything that happens in [the Black Box] is about what happens in the moment,” she said, gazing at the plaque by the door. “This is a happy place, and this was a happy place for him.”
It’s hard to imagine a Galloway Dance Ensemble without Sally Cramer leading it, but while she leaves behind an incredible legacy, she says the dance program was never about her. “I’ve always said I’ve wanted to build something that was self-sustainable,” she explained. “The thing I feel most strongly about is that it’s under the Elliott Galloway philosophy: it belongs to the students, not the teacher.” After all, the Dance Ensemble came from students asking for a 9-week dance elective 16 years ago and wanting more ever since. The dance program grew organically, and Ms. Cramer believes she was solely a vehicle for what was always needed. As it continues with new leadership and a new generation of dancers, the Galloway Dance Ensemble will grow and thrive because of the unbreakable foundation Sally Cramer built and nurtured.
By Annie Levy
Mr. Titus
While Mr. Titus has only been a teacher at Galloway for 2 years, he has quickly become an integral part of our Galloway Community through his devotion to students, love for learning, and amazing baked goods us students often get! As an environmental science student, I have the pleasure of experiencing his class each day as we venture not only into the AP curriculum, but his personal ways of teaching the class that makes it extra special. Mr. Titus teaches with passion, enthusiasm, and a friendly nature that truly defines the welcoming classroom atmosphere he has created.
My most cherished memory with Mr. Titus through my year learning with him has been some days after class him giving all the students treats. As we finish a difficult class period, he often supplies us with adorable themed sugar cookies or delicious fudgy brownies and for many of us, it is the highlight of our morning. Not only are these baked good delicious, but this act really expresses Mr. Titus’s sunny and joyful demeanor that he spreads everywhere he goes.
As someone who has always loved immersing himself in the environment through “gardening, birding, fishing, and hiking,” it was natural for Mr. Titus to engage in the educational aspect of his first love. Following retirement, Mr. Titus hopes to continue to wonder and learn through traveling as much as he can—an activity he has vastly missed over the pandemic. Though we will all greatly miss Mr. Titus as he moves on to the next chapter of his life, as his student I have no doubt that in his short time at Galloway he has impacted individual students and the structure of our beloved community.
By Ruby Kaufman