Where Are They Now? Nancy Hughes and Craig Gemmell
Nancy Hughes, English teacher, and Craig Gemmell, assistant head of school and science teacher, 1994–2015
What are you looking forward to this year?
Nancy: The entire family is excited about this school year because Craig and I will live under the same roof (!) and both boys will be together at Holderness, which is a scant forty-five minutes of winding backroads from Wolfeboro. Being together in Wolfeboro will mean that Craig will find a bit more work-life balance and I will not find myself living alone, as I sometimes did (excepting visits from the occasional bear at our remote house adjacent to a ski mountain). We are particularly looking forward to visiting the boys at Holderness, sampling from the six ice cream shops a short walk from our campus home at Brewster, and swimming in the lake until the water chills in November and finally freezes until ice-out sometime in April.
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What has kept you both busy since leaving Groton in June 2015?
Craig: I started work as head of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, shortly after helping to unpack the moving trucks, and I haven't stopped moving much since. Entering a new school and a new culture were equally exciting and arduous—and meaningful. I'm surrounded by a great group of adults who share in the work, and the students are endlessly entertaining. I sit in a lot of meetings and often linger in the dining hall, and I still manage to run a bit, with the cross country team and with some friends in town. I've been traveling more and more on behalf of the school and have logged nearly 100,000 flying miles in the last year alone.
Craig: I started work as head of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, shortly after helping to unpack the moving trucks, and I haven't stopped moving much since. Entering a new school and a new culture were equally exciting and arduous—and meaningful. I'm surrounded by a great group of adults who share in the work, and the students are endlessly entertaining. I sit in a lot of meetings and often linger in the dining hall, and I still manage to run a bit, with the cross country team and with some friends in town. I've been traveling more and more on behalf of the school and have logged nearly 100,000 flying miles in the last year alone.
Nancy: After managing the move to Wolfeboro, I've divided my time between Brewster Academy and Vermont. At Brewster, I've done a bit of teaching and enjoyed the students immensely. I've spent long stretches in Vermont with our younger son, Jobe (now 16), who attended Stratton Mountain School and snowboarded competitively during the winter. I taught English and history at Jobe's school. Our older guy, Ted (now 17), finished up at Fessenden and is now entering his junior year at Holderness, where his godfather and former Groton faculty member Fred Beams taught for the first part of his career. Ted has had a fantastic experience at Holderness, a school that feels very much like Groton in some meaningful ways—like chapel and work program. Ted has enjoyed his classes and found a real love of ski racing and rock climbing.
What are you looking forward to this year?
Nancy: The entire family is excited about this school year because Craig and I will live under the same roof (!) and both boys will be together at Holderness, which is a scant forty-five minutes of winding backroads from Wolfeboro. Being together in Wolfeboro will mean that Craig will find a bit more work-life balance and I will not find myself living alone, as I sometimes did (excepting visits from the occasional bear at our remote house adjacent to a ski mountain). We are particularly looking forward to visiting the boys at Holderness, sampling from the six ice cream shops a short walk from our campus home at Brewster, and swimming in the lake until the water chills in November and finally freezes until ice-out sometime in April.
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