FACULTY


Working Hard, Playing Hard DENNIS SULLIVAN, HUMANITIES, LACROSSE


Dennis Sullivan:


humanities teacher, assistant athletic director, and head


varsity lacrosse coach Brown University, BA Appointed 2003


“In college I planned on going into finance


and interned at several investment banks. It


wasn’t until the middle of my senior year that I considered teaching. I figured I would try teaching for one year


and then I could return to finance. After the


first month of teaching, I knew I wanted to make teaching my career.”


— Dennis Sullivan


Dennis Sullivan reviews a writing assignment with a student.


D


ennis “Sully” Sullivan is a humble guy. He would never tell you that he


was an All-American lacrosse player at Brown University, where he was the team captain and most valuable player, or that he played a year in Major League Lacrosse. He also would never tell you that he was headed for a lucrative career in finance before giving it up for the more rewarding career of teaching. It’s also unlikely that he would tell you that he ran the high-altitude 100-mile Leadville race, twice. But there are some things he will boast about: his lacrosse players, his students, and his home state. Ann Sulzer tells about


interviewing for her job as a humanities teacher at OES and being shown around the Middle School by Sully. They were walking down a hallway


when Sully mentioned that he had seen on her resume that she grew up in New Jersey. “I said yes, I did,


although it’s not something I always want to admit to,” she related. “He said, ‘What are you talking about? NEW JERSEY ROCKS!’ He screamed it at the top of his lungs right there in the hallway and I thought, who is this guy? That is pure, classic Sully.” Middle School science teacher


Benno Lyon says Sully is a natural leader whose talents have led to his positions as head lacrosse coach, assistant athletic director, and a faculty team leader in the Middle School.


He


brings the same energy in the academic realm that he brings on the lacrosse field, and it works in both places.


— Ann Sulzer


He leads by being a booster for those around him. “He’s a cheerleader for other people at Gathering and other events,” Benno said. “He’ll get people fired up and he leads the cheering or applause for somebody. He’s confident and can be articulate or loud or whatever he needs to do to


get things rolling, but then he’s happy to stand


back and see others get


positive attention.” In his humanities classroom,


Sully’s excitement is for the subject and for seeing students learn to think. “He really has a passion for


history, and he brings a lot of knowledge and energy,” Ann Sulzer said. “He’s very good at getting kids excited about different ideas, and he himself gets very excited when he sees that they understand something, that they make a connection.” While Sully is very serious


about teaching and coaching, he also knows that Middle School students need some fun and need teachers who are real people. While students are entering his class, he plays a song on his computer, and every Friday his humanities class joins another class for a five-minute dance party. He cranks up the music and everybody goes wild for a few minutes. Then it’s time to get back to work.


10 OES MAGAZINE WINTER 2011 10


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