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RHHS - new faculty and staff

2019-20

RHHS - new facultyand staff2019-20

New faces around campus

As is usually the case, the new school year brings new teachers and staff members - some are new to RHHS, and some are in new roles at RHHS. We continue to #BUILDtheHILL with excellent educators, and I am excited to introduce all of these folks to you. Please extend a warm Wildcat welcome to these folks when you meet them in the coming days and weeks.

Meet our new faculty and staff...

Kelly Anderson- Math

Kelly Anderson is excited to join the Richmond Hill High School Wildcat family as a new mathematics teacher. She recently earned a Master's degree in secondary education from Grand Canyon University following her undergraduate studies at Arizona State University. As a former gymnast and collegiate level soccer player, Kelly looks forward to being actively engaged in Richmond Hill High School Athletics. As a new resident, Kelly enjoys spending time exploring Richmond Hill and the surrounding areas with her husband, daughter, and son.


Jason Anthony - Health/PE

Jason Anthony looks forward to starting his journey as an educator at Richmond Hill High School. Jason brings ten years of classroom experience and eleven years of coaching experience to the Wildcat family. He obtained his Bachelor's degree at Troy University in Social Science and completed his Master's degree in Education from Grand Canyon University. Jason is a native of Augusta, GA, but he has moved around due to his coaching career. He now resides in Jesup, GA with his fiancee. He's passionate about educating students on and off the football field. He looks forward to growing as an educator this upcoming school year at RHHS and beyond. Go Wildcats!


Jolene Bashore - Exceptional Student Services

Jolene is new to the field of teaching, with two prior years in Special Education. In her previous career, she managed a marketing and design team at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, after 20+ years in graphic design and advertising. She received her BA in Education and her Masters in Education (Learning and Technology) from Western Governor’s University. She and her husband are empty-nesters in Richmond Hill with their two dogs.


Stacy Bennett - Assistant Principal

Stacy Bennett is excited to move into a new position as Assistant Principal after 9 years of teaching business and coaching baseball at RHHS. Stacy graduated from Armstrong Atlantic with a Economics degree. After AASU, he played 2.5 years of pro baseball with the New York Mets before being a business owner for 3 years. Stacy went back to school to get into education and later obtain a leadership degree. His wife, Elizabeth, is an Asst Principal at RHMS and they have two sons. Brody is 9 and Carson is 5. Stacy is excited about his new position to serve the students, staff, and community of Richmond Hill.


Christine Bill - Early Childhood Education/CTAE

No stranger to Wildcat country, Christine Bill will join RHHS this school year! After nine years at Richmond Hill Elementary, she is excited to work with the CTAE department in the ECE pathway. Christine obtained her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Armstrong State University and her Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Valdosta State University. Christine grew up in Savannah, and she now lives in Richmond Hill with her husband Scott, their son Hudson (7), and daughter Mary Harriet (4).


Raven Clark - Math

Raven Clark is excited to transfer to RHHS after 13 years of teaching at RHMS. Raven has lived in Richmond Hill most of her life, graduating from RHHS. She received her teaching degree from Armstrong Atlantic State University with concentrations in Middle Grades Math and Science, and most recently got certified in high school Math. When she isn’t teaching she can be found tutoring students, or hanging out with her niece and two nephews who are her heart. She enjoys family game nights, football games, and anything on the water.


Arlie Cooper - Science

Arlie Cooper is delighted to be back in the classroom as a science teacher at RHHS! She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Shorter College. Mrs. Cooper has a unique teaching background: Not only has she had the pleasure of teaching high school science, but her experience has also taken her to the kindergarten and first grade classrooms. Mrs. Cooper is passionate about turning students into problem solvers as well as preparing youths for life after high school. When Mrs. Cooper is not at school, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters. Together, they love boating, fishing, reading, cooking, and playing music trivia.


Jamie Cowart - Social Studies

Jamie Cowart is excited to be joining the RHHS Wildcats this year bringing with her 6 years of teaching experience. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in Middle Grades Education from Armstrong Atlantic State University and is currently working on her Master's degree in Secondary History Education, including an ESOL endorsement, through Georgia Southern University. Jamie lives in Richmond Hill with her husband (who is a teacher at RHMS) and two sons, Jacob and William and daschund, D'Artagnan. She is very active in her church and her family also fosters local children in their home.


Tamwina Daniels - Counselor

Tam Daniels comes to the Wildcat family by way of Wichita Falls, TX, where she worked in secondary education for 6 years and serviced as Human Resource professional for more than a decade. Mrs. Daniels received her Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (LPC) from Midwestern State University and Bachelor of Science in Human Resource Management for Hawaii Pacific University. A North Carolina native and prior military spouse, Mrs. Daniels and her family are excited to be back on the East Coast and ready to make Richmond Hill home.


Jennifer Diers - Online Learning

Jennifer is very excited to join the Wildcat family. Her family just recently moved to the Richmond Hill area from Atlanta, GA. Jennifer obtained her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Fayetteville State University. She enjoys spending time with her family at the beach, cooking dinner, and watching movies.


Amy Elkins - Math

Amy Elkins is excited about joining the Wildcat family. She and her husband moved three of their four children to Richmond Hill over two years ago so Amy could become a director of youth. After two and a half amazing years, Amy felt the only thing missing was the direct service with youth, which helped to make the decision to begin teaching and coaching again. She is blessed to have two of her sons enrolled at RHHS as a sophomore and a junior as her only girl heads to UNG to start her first year of college. With her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Secondary Math Education from Columbus State University she is ready to teach high school students math while keeping up with them on the ball field, the court, or the stage.


Denell Foster - Nurse

Ms. Foster started as a substitute nurse in the Bryan County School District, then taught an Intro to Healthcare Science Class at RHHS last year. Starting the new school year, Ms. Foster will be a permanent school nurse at RHHS alongside Nurse Parker. Nurse Foster has a Bachelors Degree in Science and Nursing, with experience in Neonatal Intensive Care, Medical-Surgical Telemetry and Oncology nursing. Nurse Foster has lived in Georgia for 2 years with her husband and two sons.


Tiffany Gray - Math

Tiffany Gray was born and raised in Jacksonville FL, graduated valedictorian from her high school, studied math at Florida Atlantic University, and then became a math teacher! Ms. Gray has been teaching math for 6 years. She is married to Jacob Gray, also a math teacher (we actually met at school) and have three cats. Ms. Gray is new to Georgia but already loves the area and cannot wait to fully invest in Richmond Hill HS! Ms. Gray likes to craft and loves the beach! She enjoys cooking but doesn't do a lot of it because she isn't a fan of cleaning up the kitchen afterwards. She prefers to watch sporting events live, and she is an athlete herself. In her previous school, Ms. Gray coached cheerleading and softball. Unpopular opinion: she doesn't really like Krispy Kreme donuts, like at all. She is so excited and grateful for this upcoming school year and the chance to #buildthehill!


Jacob Gray - Math

Jacob Gray grew up in Orlando, Florida and graduated from the University of Central Florida. He has taught math for 6 years, ranging from Algebra 1 to Math for College Readiness. He has coached football for 8 years all of which were in Florida, but he is excited to experience the Georgia football atmosphere. He moved to Richmond Hill in May of 2019 with his wife, Tiffany Gray (see above), who also teaches high school math. His favorite TV show is The Wire, and he is a big Marvel fan.


Emily Harmon - Math

Emily Harmon comes to Richmond Hill with 6 years of teaching experience in both Tennessee and North Carolina. She obtained both her Bachelor's of Science and Master's of Science at the University of Tennessee in Deaf Education and Mathematics. Emily grew up in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, but most recently comes to us from Raleigh, NC. Emily is newly engaged to her fiance, Cpt. Michael Brown, a JAG stationed at Ft. Stewart. Emily enjoys exercising, traveling, exploring museums, watching sports, and relaxing at the beach. She is passionate about American Sign Language, Deaf culture, and advocating for and empowering all students. She is thrilled to join the Wildcat family!


Kaitlin Hutchinson - Assistant Principal

Kaitlin is a second year Wildcat, ready to make the transition from the classroom to Assistant Principal. Kaitlin is a former ESS Inclusion teacher that moved from Columbus, Ohio to the Savannah area in 2017. She completed her Undergraduate education training in Biology from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, where she went on to complete her Masters work in Special Education. She serves as the Richmond Hill High School Cheerleading coach, and was proud to lead the girls to a Region Championship win last year! In her free time, Kaitlin enjoys coaching CrossFit, being at the beach, exercising and taking long walks with her husband and two dogs, Axel and Nash.


Debbie Kilpatrick - Counselor

Debbie Kilpatrick is so excited to be one of the school counselors at Richmond Hill High School! This will be her 6th year as a school counselor. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, with a major in psychology. She completed her Master of Science in School Counseling degree from Capella University. Recently she and her husband of 26 years moved to the Georgia coast from Cumming, Georgia. They have two daughters, one in her doctorate program for chemistry at the University of South Carolina, and the other a junior at Georgia Southern majoring in Biology. In her free time she and her husband enjoy going out on their on their boat to fish and enjoy the Georgia coast!


Matthew Landolt - Assistant Principal

Matthew Landolt is excited to join the Richmond Hill community. He comes to Bryan County with thirteen years of teaching experience. During his tenure, he has held a variety of positions including AP Coordinator, Science Department Chair and Head Coach for Cross Country, Track, and Swim. He earned his Bachelor of Science as well as his Master of Education degrees at the University of Massachusetts. He and his wife relocated to Georgia twelve years ago when they discovered they preferred warmer weather and southern hospitality. Matthew enjoys running, weight training, vintage designs, and horology.


Shanda Padilla - Foreign Language

Ms. Padilla is a native Savannahian, a long time resident of Richmond Hill and happily joins the Wildcat team this year. She brings 17 years of teaching experience in middle and high school Spanish. She graduated from Armstrong Atlantic State University with a BA in Spanish and received a Masters in Education from Lesley University. She enjoys cooking, gardening, sunset boat rides with her family, and she absolutely loves to travel and experience new places. She also loves all things Spanish and hopes to inspire her students to fall in love with the language and diversity of the cultures studied. She looks forward to building beautiful relationships with the faculty, staff and students of RHHS.


Buck Robinson - Exceptional Student Services

Buck Robinson is excited to join the Wildcat family & become a member of the Richmond Hill community. Buck will be a member of the Special Education Department in addition to coaching on the football team. Although he's from Coastal Georgia, he spent the first two years of his teaching and coaching career in Atlanta at Dunwoody High School. He obtained his B.A. in Secondary History Education at Huntingdon College (Montgomery, AL) where he was also a member of the football program. Buck & his wife, Polly, are currently fostering 7 month old twins (Aida & Perry), and are proud parents of their first son, Hudson, born July 16th.


Joshua Romain - Engineering

Joshua Romain is originally from Ringgold, Georgia but has called Richmond Hill home for eight years now. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia in Landscape Architecture and his masters degree from the University of Georgia in Agricultural Leadership. He is excited to join the Wildcat family. He and his wife enjoy going to the beach with their two children, traveling, and being outdoors.


Jennifer Sack - Work-based Learning Coordinator

Jennifer Sack has been part of the Wildcat family for the past 10 years, but is transitioning from the Social Studies department where she has primarily taught Government, to the CTAE department where she will become the new Work-Based Learning Coordinator. Jennifer is a native of Georgia and grew up in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta. She graduated from Georgia Southern University in 2000 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education and went on to pursue her Master’s Degree in Social Studies at the University of Missouri. Jennifer is beginning her 20th year of teaching and is married and has 3 wonderful children. She enjoys spending time on the boat with her family and watching her kids in their various sports.


Rene' Shaw - Exceptional Student Services

Rene' Shaw has been a part of the Wildcat family for the last 13 years where she has been a member of the math department. This year she is excited to move into the ESS department! Rene' earned her degrees from Georgia Southern University. She has a Bachelors degree in Mathematics Education, an Education Specialist degree in Educational Leadership and has certification in Special Education. Rene' has lived in Savannah most of her life, but Richmond Hill has been her home for the last 13 years. This school year, Rene' will have her two daughters at school with her each day--one is a Senior and the other is a Freshman.


Jeff Sheets - Social Studies

Jeff Sheets is very excited to join the Richmond Hill Wildcats this year. He received two degrees from Kansas State University, a History degree and a Parks and Recreation degree. Jeff has worked in the history museum field for many years: eight years with the National Park Service and twenty-three years as a museum director for a county history museum. He also coached wrestling for twenty years for the Chapman High School in Kansas. He brings a lot of historical knowledge to Richmond Hill. He will be teaching US Government. He and his wife, Pam, relocated to our community last year to be closer to their son and his family. By the way his son, Zac Sheets is also a math teacher for Richmond Hill.


Oveta Smalls - Exceptional Student Services

Oveta Smalls will be joining the Wildcat Family this year with lots of enthusiasm and excitement, along with one year as a Bryan County Substitute Teacher and nine years of Social Work experience. She obtained both her Bachelor and Master of Social Work from Savannah State University. Oveta and her husband has recently made Richmond Hill their home. She and her husband enjoys traveling south to spend time with their two grand children and family.


Janet Wooten - Fine Arts/Chorus

Janet Wooten is thrilled to join the team at Richmond Hill High! Mrs. Wooten has served in the public school system for 20 years. She was recently a music educator in the Chatham County Public School System for 16 years and the former Artistic Director of the Savannah Children's Choir. Prior to settling in Savannah, she taught music at the high school and collegiate levels. In addition to 20 years in the classroom, Mrs. Wooten is a private voice instructor, serving students of many ages and abilities and teaches music in the special needs ministry and children's ministry at Bible Baptist Church. Mrs. Wooten resides in Savannah, GA with her husband, Jody and their three children-James, Jaci and Joseph.


Tory Wright - Science

Ms. Wright is thrilled to join RHHS for her second year of teaching. She received her undergraduate degree at the Univeristy of Georgia in Animal Science and she is now completing her Masters of Arts in Teaching at Georgia Southern University. She moved down to Savannah from Alpharetta to begin the program last August. Ms. Wright coached volleyball for four years and is excited to continue this, as well! She enjoys hanging out with her two kitties, hiking, traveling, and watching movies.


Karel Yokley - Healthcare Science/CTAE

Karel Yokley is enthusiastic about joining the Wildcat family this year. She comes to us with 4 years of classroom experience teaching high school Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, and Oceanography. She also provides 19 years of experience as a Certified Athletic Trainer working in both high school and physical therapy settings. She received her Bachelor of Science with minors in Biology and Athletic Training at Northern Arizona University. She enjoys the busy life of being a mother of three, a military spouse, and a photographer. She looks forward to becoming part of this amazing community.