MENLO SCHOOL • SINCE 1915

Whitney Newton

Upper School English

English Teacher

Biography

Since coming to Menlo in 2012, I’ve spent most of my time teaching English Foundations 1 because I’m addicted to that contagious freshman energy. But I love balancing out my course load with a couple of deep-dive senior seminars that allow me to observe firsthand how far all our students come between their first and last years of high school.

Prior to coming to Menlo, I taught courses in composition, rhetoric, and business writing at the University of Michigan, where I also received my MFA. I’ve been in love with teaching since day one, but after riding the adjunct roller-coaster for a few years, I started to have serious doubts about the skewed priorities of university teaching (where research > reaching students). I decided to take a NOLS semester for Outdoor Educators and enrolled in a Master’s program at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, hoping to eventually join a healthy, student-centered learning community where I could share my deep love for the outdoors. In Menlo, I found just what I was looking for.

When I’m not buried beneath a pile of papers, I enjoy marveling at my fierce and wild daughter, experimenting in the kitchen, torturing myself with yoga, and unplugging from civilization every chance I get.