When I met up with renowned Upper School History teacher Bridget Hennessy at school she had already purchased some coffee, but I could not let that interfere with my interview! We walked toward Starbucks in the winter weather and (thankfully) arrived quickly. Ms. Hennessy, being the generous person that she is, bought me a Cake-Pop and drank her Pike Place Roast, an ordinary coffee for an extraordinary teacher. Ms. Hennessy grew up in Austin, Texas and went to high school at San Marcos High School. Ms. Hennessy compares her high school to that of “Friday Night Lights,” where school revolved around football. Ms. Hennessy also got the chance to study abroad in Ireland and Scotland during college – the inspiration for her project week this year. Ms. Hennessy said that, to plan an excellent project week, the destination must be an interesting place but also somewhere where she or her co-leader has background knowledge. As Ms. Hennessy loves traveling, she tries to make her project weeks the best they could possibly be, and she has done a pretty amazing job so far. Over the break, Ms. Hennessy visited her hometown, where she spent four days with her family. While in Austin, she went to some concerts, ate delicious Mexican food, and had the great opportunity to catch up with friends and family. Over the many snow days we have had, Ms. Hennessy watched some great movies in the theater: American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, and The Hunger Games. Ms. Hennessy rarely goes to a movie, but because she doesn’t own a television, she enjoys the opportunity to see a film whenever she gets the chance. But, who needs a television when you have a Netflix account, NPR, an iPhone, and the Sunday New York Times? Ms. Hennessy manages gets by with all that, and is still “hip and in the loop of things.” Her favorite show (which she watches on Netflix, of course) is Mad Men, and her favorite book she read this year is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. As for food, she loves roasted asparagus and claims to make a killer loaf of banana bread, but I have not yet managed to get my hands on some. What else makes Ms. Hennessy “hip”, you might ask? For one thing, she loves Beyoncé, (but who doesn’t?) and really enjoys her entire new album, saying, “I was appalled by how Beyoncé was able to pull off such a great album.” Both Ms. Hennessy and Beyoncé were born and raised in Texas, and who knows, maybe Ms. Hennessy can stun audiences with her killer dance moves as well!   Ms. Hennessy considers herself a fair grader, with high standards, and in her defense, her three point multiple-choice questions are on material that was focused on heavily. This semester she taught American History and Chicago history, two classes she really enjoys. This is also Ms. Hennessy’s last year with her senior advisory, with which she has become very close, and will be sad to see them go. Ms. Hennessy hopes that all Latin students embrace their education, and to enjoy their time here because it will go by fast.  Ms. Hennessy is grateful for the faculty and student body that she gets to work with, who give her the motivation to come to work every day. Ms. Hennessy was a blast to talk to, and I truly hope that she will take it to the stage, and show off her Beyoncé dance moves.]]>