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Sharon Howell writes and talks

Sharon Howell is interested in what it means to become and to be an educated person. She thinks about what role independent schools have in shaping educated people, helping them reach their individual potential, and in serving—in the present and for the future—their communities and society.

Sharon is the Headmaster of St. Johnsbury Academy in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, a comprehensive independent school with a public mission, serving students from 30 countries, 25 states, and 50 surrounding towns. The centuries-old tradition of school choice in Vermont allows most of these local students to attend regardless of their ability to pay, and the school has both academic and technical educational programs.

Since 2014 she has worked in independent schools: as Head of School at Indian Springs School in Birmingham, AL, and as Associate Head of School at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, MA. Before that, Sharon was the Dean at Adams House in Harvard College and taught in Harvard's History and Literature concentration. She has also worked in development and instruction for Professor Elisa New's innovative online poetry course, Poetry in America, most recently as part of the team piloting the course at 25 public high schools across the country. She produced a poetry podcast called ramblebarrow for two years, and published a book of poems called Girl in Everytime (Pressed Wafer Press, 2011).  

Sharon has a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University, an M.A. in English from Villanova University, and a B.A. in English and Poetry from Connecticut College.