Staff Directory
Ron McClain
Parkmont's Director, Ron McClain, has 40 years of teaching and administrative experience in Washington's independent schools. A 1971 graduate of Harvard University, he has led more than 100 outdoor adventures with students at Parkmont, Somerset, and Edmund Burke and enjoys teaching history and math. On weekends he coaches travel soccer teams that have included his three children (Matthew, 22, Michael, 20, and Maggie 15) and he serves as President of the Takoma Soccer Club. He is a founding member of the Washington Small Schools Association and has served as a trustee of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, the Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School, the Edmund Burke School, and the Dance Exchange. He is currently a PTSA vice-president at Montgomery Blair and President of their Athletic Booster Club. For the past decade he's served on the Executive committee of the Northfield Conference, a family spiritual retreat gathering in Massachusetts.
Michelle Banks was born and raised in Washington, D.C. (but has lived/worked/studied in Tucson. AZ and Cambridge, MA), and returns to Parkmont for her sixteenth year. She has a BA in Cultural Studies from the Union Institute (Vermont College) and is currently working on a MA in Cultural Sustainability at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Her many occupations have included HIV/AIDS educator, photographer, actor, social services program coordinator and youth outreach worker. When not in DC, she coordinates arts/humanities programs for rural children in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.
Sophie Cassell was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from American University in 2011 with a Bachelors in Psychology. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, yoga, travelling around the world, reading books, watching movies, and spending time with friends and family.
Alison Duvall graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in art photography in 1999. When she is not teaching, she loves horseback riding, swimming, anything to do with art or photography, and spending time with her husband, Pete, and daughter, Zoe.
Nijole Gedutis is from Texas, studied at the University of Salamanca in Spain, and graduated as an English major from Pomona College in Southern California in 1998. She is now pursuing her Master's degree in Social Work at Catholic University of America. She likes to spend time with her friends, eat good food, read good books, see good movies, and travel the world.
Now in his 6th year teaching at Parkmont School, Sam Graul was born and raised in Takoma Park, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 2006, where he majored in Computer Science and minored in Philosophy. All his life, he has been passionate about watching and playing sports, particularly soccer. Some of his biggest interests include following news on cutting-edge technology, studying physics, and playing and collecting classic video-games. He also enjoys raising his cat Smokey and dog Sammy.
Alex Jennison is a DC resident born and raised. He attended the Field School. He was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend the University of Wisconsin where he earned a B.S. in zoology and political science. It was there that he was able to pursue further passions of his by being a member of the Varsity sailing team, Ceramics society, and Nationally ranked Ultimate Frisbee team. He loves travel and exploring new places and culture. One of his biggest passions is taking students and campers out climbing and watching them push through their comfort zones, as well as teaching them outdoor living skills. When not on the rocks, or on the water, he can be found out on the Ultimate Frisbee fields of DC. He is so happy to be back for another year at Parkmont and for all of the adventures to come."
Mike Moyer is a graduate of Dickinson College and the University of Florida's College of Environmental Engineering and has over twenty years of teaching experience at the junior and senior high levels. After four years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mike returns to Parkmont to continue with his career as a science teacher.
Christy Halvorson Ross has been with Parkmont since 1994. She grew up in D.C. and attended Potomac and NCS, graduating from Connecticut College. She also studied at England's Oxford University and in Rome, Italy. She served as the PTA President for 2 years at Key Elementary School. Christy formerly taught art at Parkmont and still frequently does ceramics, block printing, and sewing; she also enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking & yoga, and is studying nutrition. Christy and her husband Garth have 2 kids: Si (10) and Eva (9).
Kim Schraf is a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis. She has been teaching for thirty years, most recently in the Washington area. When not in the classroom, Kim is working as an actor and as a narrator for the library of Congress; Talking Books Program.
Willa Reinhard is a graduate of New York University, where she received a B.A. in English Literature, at the University of Miami, where she received an M.F.A in fiction. She has been teaching humanities classes for ten years, with six of those years spent at Parkmont. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling (to warm climates), dance, music, theater, good books, and, on occasion, finding time to write short stories.
Rachel Schmidt graduated from the University of Kansas with her BFA in textile design in 2003. After briefly living in Lviv, Ukraine she chose to continue her studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, where she received her MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art. Rachel is an active artist and exhibits regularly at galleries and museums throughout the US and abroad. She is an Artist in Residence and the Resident Gallery Coordinator at the Arlington Arts Center. When Rachel is not teaching or making art she spends time with her husband and travels.