New to the Team for the 2026-27 School Year

Administration & Staff

Melissa Larocque, Director of Enrollment
Melissa Larocque will join Brookwood as Director of Enrollment in July, bringing more than two decades of experience in admissions, financial aid, communications, and independent school leadership. Melissa comes to Brookwood from Belmont Hill School, where she has spent the past 13 years and most recently served as Senior Associate Director of Admission and Financial Aid. In that role, she helped advance enrollment strategy through family engagement, admissions process leadership, financial aid work, and market research.

She has also coached athletics, advised students, led major school events, and volunteered in community organizations, bringing a broad understanding of the many relationships and experiences that shape school life. Before Belmont Hill, Melissa worked at St. Albans School and National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., in admissions, development, and student-facing roles, and began her career in Boston advertising. As Melissa steps into this role, Lindsay Murphy will step fully into her work as Assistant Head of School.

Melissa and her husband live in Wenham with their daughter, Emma, and son, Reece. Outside of work, she enjoys reading, volunteering in the community, and spending time with family in Rockport.

Reilly Hankus, Manager of Alumni Engagement and Donor Relations Coordinator
Reilly is excited to be part of the Brookwood School community as Manager of Alumni Engagement and Donor Relations Coordinator. She has built her career around a commitment to education, meaningful relationships, and creating engaging experiences for others.

As a former teacher, Reilly focused on creating welcoming, engaging learning environments where curiosity was fostered and students felt supported. Her more recent work in events has complemented that passion, allowing her to design and facilitate experiences where people feel connected, inspired, and valued. Whether in the classroom or coordinating experiences beyond it, Reilly has always been driven by a love of education and community.

LOWER SCHOOL

Dan Hogan, Lower School World Language Teacher
Dan is excited to join the Brookwood community and share his love of language learning with students. He grew up in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and graduated from Stonehill College in 2011 with degrees in Spanish and Mathematics. Immediately after graduation, Dan moved to the Dominican Republic, where he spent a year teaching English and the arts as part of a service program. While he studied Spanish throughout high school and college, it wasn't until living abroad in both Spain and the Dominican Republic that he truly fell in love with language and the connections it can create between people and cultures. After returning home, Dan started a music education business and has spent the past decade teaching music to students of all ages. Through that work, he discovered the power of creativity and engagement in helping students learn and grow.

Dan is excited to bring that same energy back to the classroom and help students discover the value of learning another language. He loves finding creative ways to make language come alive, often incorporating music, art, and culture into the learning experience.

Since 2016, Dan has called the North Shore home. When he is not teaching, he enjoys playing golf, making music, and spending time with his wife and daughter. He looks forward to getting to know students and families and becoming part of the school community.

Kevin Merrigan, Lower School Counselor
Kevin is thrilled to be joining the Brookwood community this fall as the Lower School Counselor. He earned his M.Ed. in School Counseling from Lesley University and brings over 10 years of experience supporting young people. Before Brookwood, he served as an elementary school counselor in Marblehead Public Schools. Building authentic, caring relationships with students is at the center of Kevin’s counseling approach. He is dedicated to supporting students’ social and emotional well-being and helping them develop the skills and connections to navigate their world successfully and joyfully.

Kevin lives in Beverly and enjoys hiking with his family and dog, running road races, and getting into new DIY house projects. He is eager for the year ahead and looks forward to connecting with Brookwood students and families.

Ava Natola, Early Childhood 2 Assistant Teacher
Ava is thrilled to be joining the Brookwood School community for the 2026–27 school year as part of the EC2 team. She recently graduated from Endicott College with a degree in Educational Studies and will begin working toward her master’s degree this spring. Throughout her time at Endicott, Ava gained experience in a variety of classroom settings. During her freshman year, she worked in a third grade classroom at Huckleberry Hill School alongside her former third grade teacher, which was a meaningful full-circle experience. Sophomore year, she worked with special education students at Ayers Ryal Side School. During her junior year, Ava worked in Pam Hawes’ kindergarten classroom at Brookwood and immediately fell in love with the warm and welcoming community. One of her favorite Brookwood memories was skating on Cutler Pond with the kindergarten class during the winter. Most recently, during her senior year, she completed her semester-long kindergarten internship at Shore Country Day School.

Hannah Rallis, Visual Arts Teacher
Hannah is excited to join the Brookwood community this coming school year as a Visual Arts teacher. She grew up in Westchester, New York, and attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied Geography and Spanish. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Art Education at the University of Florida. Hannah previously worked as a Kindergarten and Third Grade Co-Teacher at Greenwich Academy and is finishing her role as a Visual Arts Co-Teacher at Greenwich Country Day School.

Outside of school, Hannah is a volleyball coach and enjoys playing as well, having coached at the junior varsity, middle school, and club levels. She loves spending time in museums, reading, and making her own art, and is happiest by the water collecting shells and sea glass. She also recently got engaged and is excited to spend the coming year planning her wedding alongside starting this new chapter at Brookwood.

Hannah is thrilled to be joining the Brookwood community and is especially looking forward to building relationships with students and colleagues, fostering a creative and welcoming art room, and becoming part of a community that values curiosity, collaboration, and joyful learning.

UPPER SCHOOL

Pete Brandt, Upper School Math Teacher
We welcome Pete Brandt back this fall as an Upper School Math Teacher. Pete first joined Brookwood in 1990 as a teaching intern, teaching across grades 5–8. After a few years away at Moses Brown School in Providence, he returned to Brookwood in 1993 and taught here for six years. During this time he developed the school's Outdoor Leadership programs and mentored teaching interns through the nine-month M.Ed. program. His career later took him to Princeton Day School in Princeton, NJ, curriculum design work with TERC in Cambridge and the Math Forum, and most recently eighteen years at The Derryfield School in Manchester, NH, where he currently serves as Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs. Pete holds a BA in Psychology from Bates College and an MEd from Lesley University. 

After years of balancing teaching with administration, Pete is looking forward to giving the classroom his full attention — and he couldn't be happier that he's coming home to Brookwood.

Kate Hickenlooper, Upper School Science Teacher
Kate is very excited to be joining the Brookwood team. She grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has lived in Massachusetts for six years. Kate has been teaching elementary and middle school science for four years, and was a 4th grade homeroom teacher before that. Her favorite parts of being a science teacher are the hands-on learning opportunities and helping students grow their passion and excitement for scientific topics. Kate studied sociology at Ohio University and has a Master's of Education from Lesley University. Outside of school, Kate likes to spend as much time as possible outside. She enjoys hiking, camping, and skiing in the White Mountains and is currently working (slowly) on summiting all 48 4,000ft peaks. Every summer, she and her sister (also a teacher) try to visit a new national park. So far, her favorite has been Zion National Park. If she is not outside, Kate enjoys embroidery and baking. Connecting her passion for the outdoors and conservation of our planet to science is a key part of Kate's teaching practice. She values teaching science content as well as guiding students to be upstanding members of their communities. Kate is excited to continue helping students connect their learning in science to the world outside the classroom! 

Talia Mailman, Upper School English Teacher
Talia is delighted to join Brookwood's faculty to teach fifth and sixth grade English. An alum, Talia reunited with Brookwood last year when her oldest child started kindergarten. Talia graduated from Williams College with a BA in English and Music before she went on to get two master's degrees: the first, in Music from Boston University; the second, in Fine Arts from University of Houston. For well over a decade, Talia has taught English Literature, Creative Writing, and Composition and Rhetoric at the high school and college levels. At Brookwood, Talia looks forward to getting to know her students and their interests, helping them develop a personal connection to what they're learning, and ensuring they continue to develop an enduring love of reading and writing they will be proud to take forward into their lives.