Around THE ARCH
WELCOME, NEW FACULTY & STAFF! As students and parents returned to Blair’s hilltop campus at summer’s end, they were greeted not only by the veteran faculty they’ve come to know and love but also by a number of dynamic new teachers and administrators who joined the School community this year. Read on to meet the newest members of Blair’s dedicated faculty and staff.
ADMISSION
COLLEGE COUNSELING
Chase Palanca ’15 joins Blair’s
Batouly Camara ’15 returns to Blair
admission team as an admission
as a college counselor and head girls’
counselor. He completed his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins
varsity basketball coach. Ms. Camara played NCAA Division I basketball at the
University and received his master’s degree in education
University of Connecticut, where she earned bachelor and
from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021. From 2019
master of science degrees in sport management. She went
to 2021, he worked as a humanities teaching fellow
on to play in Spain’s professional women’s basketball league
and wrestling coach at St. Paul’s School. Mr. Palanca
and founded the nonprofit Women and Kids Empowerment
is excited to share his love for Blair with prospective
(WAKE), which develops partnerships and programs with
families and work with Ross Gitomer ’05 as assistant
community leaders, local basketball federations, and global
wrestling coach. He is joined by his partner, Haley Chrobock ’15, and lives in West Hall.
organizations to combat the lack of access, resources and opportunities for young girls. At Blair, she continues in her role as a counselor and mentor to young people, imagining their futures through her role in Blair’s college office. She is
Misha Randhawa joined the admission office in 2020 as assistant dean of admission and coordinator of multicultural
replacing her own high school mentor, Quint Clarke ’87, who stepped down as head coach of the varsity team after 10 years of exceptional dedication to the program.
student recruitment. She earned a bachelor’s degree in global and international studies at the University of Kansas in 2016 and a JD at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 2020. As a law student, Ms. Randhawa served as business editor for the Law Journal on Race, Gender and Ethnicity and as a student representative to the Coalition of Houston Diverse Bar Associations. Her
ENGLISH Annie Gardner is an alumna of the Lawrenceville School and Dartmouth College, where she earned a BA in English
professional experience includes legal internships for a
in 2015. A graduate of the Teach for America program,
Seward County, Kansas, district court judge and a Houston
Ms. Gardner worked for two years in the rural Mississippi
legal aid office, as well as working as a clerk for a Houston
Delta at Amanda Elzy Junior High and subsequently taught
law firm. She also served as a student assistant in the law
sixth-grade English at Canyon Ridge Middle School in Texas.
school’s office of career and professional development,
She brings to Blair extensive experience in rowing, serving
where she was involved in many facets of recruitment and
as girls’ varsity head coach of the Austin Rowing Club since
hiring, including assisting in the development of programs
2017 where she helped build a competitive program that
surrounding minorities in the legal field. Ms. Randhawa is a
qualified for Nationals each spring. At Blair, Ms. Gardner
graduate of Fountain Valley School in Colorado, and she is
teaches English 2 and 3 and coaches the girls’ crew team.
excited to return to a boarding-school setting and introduce
She and her fiancé, Steve, reside at Lake House, which is
prospective families to the Blair community.
adjacent to the Siegel Property.
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