Katie O'Shaughnessey
Mathematics Instructor
Tel: (805) 646-4343 Ext

Mathematics, Residential Life, Music, Dance
Pre-calculus, Calculus AB, Calculus BC

Year Appointed: 2011



B.A. Yale University
M.Ed. Chestnut Hill College

Katie O grew up in Troy, MI, a little suburb of Detroit. She started performing at age seven in a local production of "Annie" and got her Actors’ Equity Association card when she was 18 at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. She attended Yale University, where she earned a B.A. in computer science and theatre studies. After graduating from Yale, Katie O moved to New York City to work as a computer engineer. People had always told her that if she could do anything but theatre, she should, so she tried. She hated it, and after fifteen months, she left the corporate world to audition for professional theatre in NYC. For the next five years, Katie O worked in regional theatres across the country, performing in musicals. Katie O met her partner (also Katie), and they moved to Philadelphia, which had enough professional theatre to provide her a good living and allow her to work in her hometown rather than being on the road. Finn, her five-year-old, was born during a run of "Beauty and the Beast". When “The Katies” had their second child, Cormac, Katie O decided to become a teacher. She had tutored and subbed for extra money while working as a performer and she knew she loved it. Katie O joined Teach for America (TFA) and spent two years teaching special education mathematics at an underserved, all-male high school in West Philadelphia. While doing TFA, Katie O earned her Masters in Special Education and Secondary Mathematics, and had her third child, Maeve, who is now 9 months old.

Last year, Katie O searched for a boarding school community to join with her family. She traveled across the country to different schools, trying to find the right match. When she came to Besant Hill, she fell in love with the students, the faculty, the philosophy and the landscape. She couldn't believe she had found a place where all of her passions combined. Here, she could be actively involved in the arts, teach math, and also work with students with learning differences. It could not be a more perfect place for her! This year, Katie O will be teaching AP Calculus and Pre-Calculus, participating in residential life, and working with the music and dance departments. Her partner, Katie, will also be working in the residential life program.

In her years at Besant Hill, Katie O hopes to add some options to the math curriculum so that math is accessible to every kind of learner. In addition, she looks forward to making music and art with her students and discovering where the journey will take her.