Welcome to Episode 152 of The Darlington Podcast!
In this episode, Head of School Brent Bell talks with English Department Head Melissa Smyly about what English education looks like at Darlington, her career journey, extracurricular involvement on campus and more. This is the fourth in a series highlighting each of Darlington's department heads.
Brent Bell was named Darlington's 11th head of school in 2014. With two decades of experience in education, he holds a B.A. in History from the University of Richmond and an M.S. in Education from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Melissa Smyly has taught English at the Upper School since 2017 and serves as head of the department. She also coaches cheerleading. Melissa holds a B.S. in Secondary Language Arts from Auburn University and an M.A. in Library Media Technology from the University of West Alabama.
The Darlington Podcast is a collaboration between the communication and advancement teams, and is hosted by various members of the school community. Episodes are released each Thursday morning and available on most podcast platforms (search for The Darlington Podcast in your podcast player). Once new episodes are posted, you'll also be able to find them at www.darlingtonschool.org/podcast. Please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so that you'll get the latest episode each week!
The Darlington Podcast intro music was written and performed by Elliot Luitwieler ('22) and Kathryn Davidson ('22). Jaclyn Haynes, Upper School science teacher, lends her voice, and editing and production is handled by Maddie Chastain, content manager.
If you have ideas for future episodes or have any questions about The Darlington Podcast, please email communications@darlingtonschool.org.
