One of the newest faculty members at South Kent School is teaching the Fourth Formers English. Ms. Michelle Reis is also a dorm parent in Brown Dorm, where she lives with her fiancé, Mr. Sean Murphy.

Ms. Reis is from a very small town in Minnesota "that has more horses than people," as she describes it.

She attended the College of the Holy Cross, where she earned a double major in English and Education.

Ms. Reis came to SKS to join Mr. Murphy and experience the small community the school had to offer. A small community works better for teachers and students, both in the classroom and out, she said. Ms. Reis feels she is a lot closer to her students here than at her previous school.

This year she’d like to accomplish several things, but her main goal is to "have the students leave her class smarter than when they came in."

A new group has started on campus, the Faith Life Community, under Ms. Reis’ direction and guidance. The group meets every Sunday night at 8 p.m. in her apartment, and she bakes cookies and leads students to talk about their lives. She wants the students to learn about faith and be able to put it into their everyday lives. Faith Life Community members are planning on sharing some of their talks by weaving them into the Thursday services in St. Michael’s Chapel.

Chaucer is a long-time tradition at SKS in which students must stand up in front of the entire school and recite a passage from "The Canterbury Tales." Ms. Reis felt if the new students had to recite Chaucer than as a new faculty member, she should recite Chaucer. She memorized the poem and got in front of the school and said it.

"It was very nerve-racking, even though I took a course in college on ‘The Canterbury Tales,’" Ms. Reis said.