A Faculty Farewell to Ms. Delwiche

Classics Teacher Anna Delwiche grants one special exception to mild tardiness: food. “If you’re late and you have a snack for her, she won’t give you APs,” said Zohan Subhash ’26, who once brought her a surprise birthday gift to Latin I. “I walk in 10 minutes late with half a chocolate cake and she just pulls out a knife from her cupboard and starts cutting the cake… it was like the funniest thing ever.”

Ms. Delwiche will depart the Academy after four years of teaching. Although originally hired as a Latin teacher, she has also taught Greek, French, and Classics electives. Ms. Delwiche has also served as a faculty advisor for the Scroll alongside English Teacher Justin Romick and a dorm resident in McAllister and Shumway. 

Language Department Chair and Classics Teacher Dan Houston praised Ms. Delwiche’s ability to teach both inside and outside the classroom. “She’s been such a great colleague, a really good person to share Classics with, and such a talented teacher, too, for our department,” he said. “Her ability to teach Latin, Greek and French is really wonderful.” Dr. Houston also noted Ms. Delwiche’s ability to foster “that kind of ‘boarding school magic’ where a lot of the teaching that you do happens not in the classroom, but happens in conversation… Ms. Delwiche is so good at teaching in those informal moments, especially getting kids to rise to the top challenge of being young adults.”

Mr. Romick highlighted Ms. Delwiche’s significant contributions to the Scroll through her role as a faculty advisor. “She has a lot of really good ideas about how we could improve the paper—not just in the final product—but how we work our way through the process of getting to the end,” he said. “She’s also kind of a visionary when it comes to things that we should be covering and things that we shouldn’t. I just hope that we can continue making a great paper without her because she’s been a big part of the reason why the paper’s been great.”

Ms. Delwiche began teaching at Deerfield in 2021 after completing her M.S.Ed. at the University of Pennsylvania’s Independent School Teaching Residency program. “It was only my third year of teaching,” she said. “Coming here was a lot of firsts. This was my first full time teaching, first time doing co-ed[ucational], first time advising… I grew as a teacher in a lot of ways.” Ms. Delwiche noted that watching the growth of her students has been a particularly rewarding experience. “This is the first time I’m really seeing kids that I knew when they were really young adolescents… and change so much,” she said. “Like, maintain a lot of who you were as ninth graders, but grow up and mature and start to, you know, develop your identity, mentor other people… It’s really, really special to see.”

Austin Zhang ’25, one of Ms. Delwiche’s advisees, reflected on her advice during the college application process. “She’s told me… to not get too bogged down by trying to figure out exactly what you want to do,” he said. Zhang learned to trust the process and have faith that “you will get somewhere that you are happy with… even if that’s not like where you thought you would end up initially.”

Chelsea Shen ’27, a student in her Latin III class, praised her comforting presence and reliability. “She’s on top of what she’s doing and kind of has a sense of security,” she said. “You’re fine when you’re with her. You’re never lost and you’re never out of help… She’s always available for you to go to at any point.”

Next fall, Ms. Delwiche will teach French at the Harvard Westlake School in Los Angeles, California. Although she is excited to move to a city, she will miss the quiet of Deerfield. “I really notice myself feeling a calm come over me when I start driving back into this area,” said Ms. Delwiche. “I’m gonna miss the comfort and the familiarity of living in a place like rural Mass[achusetts]… Someone told me it’s gonna feel like leaving your hometown.”