Amongst the many new faces that can be seen around campus this fall is Upper School science teacher Greg Hegeman.
Mr. Hegeman teaches Honors Earth and Environmental Science, AP Environmental Science, and Forensics. Despite having worked at St. John’s School in Houston, Texas for the past six years, Mr. Hegeman actually spent his teenage years in the Northeast. He attended highschool in Maine and even applied to KO! He also spent some of his early childhood in Colorado and Montana, where he developed his passion for the outdoors.
Mr. Hegeman attended Clark University in Worcester, Mass. where he received both his Bachelor of Arts and his Master of Science Degrees in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During his time at Clark University, Mr. Hegeman was able to study abroad in the Australian rainforest through a program called School for Field Studies.
He described the opportunity to be able to study in such a unique environment. “You live in the ecosystem that you’re learning about, and you can take classes that are relevant to that ecosystem, such as the kind of challenges that it faces, and what sort of solutions there might be,” he said. “The classes I took were rainforest ecology, conservation, and what was called socio-economic policy.”
In addition to studying in Australia, part of Mr. Hegeman’s master’s degree involved studying fourspine stickleback in Acadia National Park.
Mr. Hegeman wants to carry learning beyond the classroom and hopes to advise clubs in the future, some of which are currently in the works. “I have thought about approaching [Director of Athletics] Josh Balabuch with the idea of creating an outdoors club,” Mr. Hegemen said. “We have strength and conditioning, we have sports, and there’s something kind of in between that I think would be interesting. We would go hiking and rock climbing and do some trail work for the nature conservancies or the land trusts,” he said. If you are interested in this opportunity, he encourages you to reach out!
When he’s not busy in the classroom or taking care of the fish tanks in CT, Mr. Hegeman enjoys hiking, other outdoor activities, and boardgames of all sorts.
We’re so happy to welcome you to the KO community, Mr. Hegeman, and we wish you the best of luck this year!
