Our History Faculty

Peter Sillin

History Department Chair
psillin@nya.org
Mr. Sillin’s Page

Peter Sillin joined the NYA faculty in 2006 after previously working at Yarmouth High School and at Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia. A graduate of Williams College (B.A., History and German) and the University of Virginia (M.A., European History), Peter has loved history since he was a kid and always knew he wanted to make a career out of it. But when he tried out teaching in graduate school, he discovered it was even more fun than getting other people to pay for his research trips to European archives. So he gleefully abandoned his dissertation to plunge into the teaching life.

At NYA, Peter teaches AP European History, AP US History, 10th grade Modern World History, the History of the Cold War, Modern Middle East, and Current Issues in US Foreign Policy. In addition, he is the Head Coach of the Boys Cross Country team and the advisor to the Kiva Club, a group that makes micro-loans to developing-world entrepreneurs. Peter’s favorite part of his job is when his students accomplish something they didn’t previously think they could do. Whether this happens on the XC trails or in the classroom, Peter describes those moments as “magic.”

Peter has two children, the older of whom, Jack, will be a 6th grader at NYA in 2011. He enjoys all the usual attractions of the Maine outdoors and is revered by former advisees across the country for his formidable fantasy baseball skills.

John Drisko

jdrisko@nya.org
Mr. Drisko’s Page

John Drisko arrived at NYA in the summer of 2008. He holds a B.A. in History from Brown University and an M.A in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Maine. His learning really began while taking Liberal Studies graduate courses at Dartmouth.

John came to NYA from the public school system including schools in New Jersey, Falmouth, South Portland and Gorham. He was Principal of Gorham High School for ten years prior to NYA. He has been enjoying the change to an independent school and specifically the community of NYA.

His passion is being in the classroom with students, learning along with them. He has taught many courses including American History, Psychology, Western Civilization, Sociology, The Holocaust, American Government and more. Currently he teaches Modern World History to sophomores to complement his administrative duties.

John and his wife Cindy live in Gorham where he likes to cook, read and play guitar. After 34 years he is still trying to perfect James Taylor’s picking style. He especially relishes jam sessions with friends and singing with his daughters. His youngest (Kimberly) has turned him on to Broadway musicals while his eldest (Katelyn) prefers choral music, having graduated with a degree in voice. Either is fine with him.

Dave Echeverria

David Echeverria

decheverria@nya.org
Mr. Echeverria’s Page

Dave Echeverria joined NYA in the fall of 2008. At NYA, he teaches 7th grade Civics and Economics and 8th grade United States History. In addition to teaching, Dave coaches the middle school hockey team. A graduate of Wesleyan University, where he majored in government and was a member of the baseball team, Dave started his career in 2001 teaching 6th grade social studies at Moorestown Friends School in New Jersey. In 2004, he got married and moved to the Washington, DC area where he taught 7th grade history at the Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. After three years in the nation’s capital, he and his wife decided to leave the city for greener pastures. They currently reside in Cumberland and do not miss the beltway traffic.

Dave is currently working on his Masters of Science in Education at St. Joseph’s College of Maine and hopes to have it completed by the summer of 2011. Outside of the classroom, Dave enjoys fishing, playing hockey, and listening to country music.

Charlie Hudson

chudson@nya.org
Mr. Hudson’s Page

Mr. Hudson, senior teacher on the NYA faculty, is in his 34th year at the Academy. Majoring in both Art History and Latin at Hamilton College, Hudson has modeled his career on several of his own teachers at another New England independent school similar to NYA. An enthusiastic teacher in the classroom, first hired to teach Latin and adding Art History to his duties in his second year, Hudson eventually became a full-time member of the history department in the upper school. Currently teaching Art History, a popular senior elective which Hudson developed into one of the Academy’s first Advanced Placement courses, his classes are rooted in a humanities based approach to the study of History.
Along with his teaching duties, Hudson has been actively involved in the Academy’s athletic program, serving as varsity coach of Cross Country, Ice Hockey and Tennis for over twenty years. Presently coach of Varsity Boys Tennis, Hudson views athletics as more than simply a matter of wins and losses and championships; more importantly, athletics is another venue for teaching many of the values expressed in the Academy’s mission statement.
Outside of school one is just as likely to find Mr. Hudson racing his sailboat in the waters of Maine as seeing him in a New York City art gallery or museum.

Lynn Sullivan

lsullivan@nya.org
Ms. Sullivan’s Page

Lynn Sullivan joined the History Department in 1998. Lynn’s primary focus is U.S. History, approaching the topic through society and culture while always keeping an eye on politics and the influences each one has on the other. She has abandoned the text-book approach and focuses on primary sources, poetry, music, historical fiction and non-fiction works. She earned a B.A. in History from Colby College and an M.A. in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. Her master’s thesis, The Historical Invention and Economic Transformation of 20th Century Freeport, Maine, was a particularly fun adventure for her as the research brought her closer to the community in which she grew up and where she still lives.

Currently, Lynn teaches U.S. History and two senior elective courses. When not in the classroom, she is the Student Affairs Coordinator and coaches in the girls lacrosse program.

When not in school, Lynn is on the board of Seeds of Independence, a local non-profit organization that works with at-risk youth. She enjoys spending time with her family and her Golden Retriever, Butter. A slow, short-distance runner, Lynn embraces all outdoor activity and is one of the few people who really look forward to winter and the cold and snow.

Kelly Orr

korr@nya.org
Ms. Orr’s Page

Kelly recently joined the NYA History Department in Fall 2011, and is teaching Great Questions in World History to a lively bunch of ninth graders. Despite the constant trash-talking she endures for being a Steelers fan, she enjoys how this philosophy-driven course encourages students to articulate their own values and beliefs, even if they challenge authority! Outside of the classroom, Kelly is lucky to be overseeing the expansion of NYA’s Experiential Education curricula as well as coordinating Project: Reach Out efforts. She is pretty sure there is nothing more fun than thinking up new and exciting ways to get students outdoors and into their communities to learn about the world around them.

Kelly earned her B.A. in Art History from Bowdoin College where she delighted in tackling life’s questions in classrooms once inhabited by the likes of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Studying art taught her that history is highly subjective and whether historians paint pictures, take photographs, or write manifestos, they all do so with their own particular lens.

Kelly lives in Portland where she enjoys baking for her students, running and biking on Portland’s fantastic trails, and checking out the local art scene every First Friday. Currently she is finishing her Master’s in Applied Literacy from the University of Southern Maine.