Administration
Betsy Cory
Director of Lower School Student Support Services and Lower School Counselor
Betsy Cory is a Bay Area native who has been working with children for 25 years in different capacities. She was the school counselor at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley for 10 years prior to joining Black Pine Circle School in 2018. Before that, Betsy oversaw mental health services for Alameda Head Start, worked with at-risk teens in school-based settings, and developed an international arts-based education in public schools. Betsy began her career as a first grade teacher and went on to receive her M.A. in counseling, with a dual degree in school counseling and licensed clinical counseling. When Betsy isn’t at BPC, she has a private practice, where she works with children, teens, and families. She has two teenage sons and enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, dancing, hiking, and gardening.
Why I Work with Children
I’ve always loved working with children. They help me see the world with fresh eyes. I feel we are shaped by them as much, if not more, than they are shaped by us. I particularly love their deep sense of curiosity and wonderment about the world, as well as their ability to withhold judgment and forgive. I feel that at the core of our human experience is the need to be seen and valued and believe this may be the most important gift we can give children.
A Favorite Book
My favorite children’s book is Boris and Amos by William Steig. It’s a sweet and beautiful story of an unlikely friendship. My favorite middle childhood book (though I’ve also enjoyed reading it as an adult) is the Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It’s creatively written and asks philosophical questions that younger readers can understand and think about. One of my favorite books as an adult is Light In August by William Faulkner. He has a way of poignantly and poetically capturing truths about the world and about the human condition in a sentence.
Quick Fact
Trekked to the base camp of Mt. Everest
Other Faculty for This Grade
Aïda Garcia-Pons
Lower School Spanish Teacher
Aïda attended the same elementary school as opera tenor Josep Carreras.
Alyson Mitchell
Eighth Grade History & Geography Teacher
Keen on floating houses and mutant Basset Hounds
Chelsea Feldman
First Grade Head Teacher, Kindergarten and First Grade Garden Teacher
Learning to play the Celtic Harp and studying Irish Gaelic
Gerry Branner
Upper School Physical Education Teacher, Upper School Dean, and Upper School Athletic Director
Jerry Kennedy
Seventh and Eighth Grade Music Teacher, Band Director
Performed music in South Africa during the end of legal apartheid.
Ke Williams
Kindergarten Head Teacher, Lower School Assistant Teacher Coordinator
Where I was born, now stands a Yoda statue
Melissa Jiménez
Upper School Art Teacher
Once entered a Mean Girls t-shirt design contest and, after winning, my shirt was sold in stores and was able to see Mean Girls on Broadway!
Nicole Lockwood
Kindergarten-Fifth Grade Science and Second-Fifth Grade Garden Teacher
Apprenticed at the National Theater of Croatia
Romina Ronquillo
Second Grade Head Teacher, Lower School Student & Faculty Operations Coordinator
Mad for dancing
Tess Leverenz
Third Grade Head Teacher
Took three and a half months to bike across the country with my husband
