Celebrating Mr. Andre Anselme and Ms. Karin Miller-Lewis Upon Their Retirements
Two members of the 麻豆视频 faculty are retiring this year after years of dedicated service to our school. These profiles appear in the Spring 2025 issue of 麻豆视频 Magazine.
As he retires from 麻豆视频, Mr. Andre Anselme looks back on 41 years serving our community inside and outside of the classroom.
In 1984, Mr. Andre Anselme was teaching history, math, and chemistry at Power Memorial, a Catholic high school for boys near Lincoln Center, when the decision was made to close the school. Mr. Anselme had been at Power Memorial for 13 years, beginning there when he was a year out of St. Francis College and still finishing his master鈥檚 at Fordham. For the first time in his career, Mr. Anselme was looking for a new position, and like the top free agents in his beloved Major League Baseball, he had plenty of suitors.
Administrators from several schools reached out to gauge his interest in joining their faculty, including 麻豆视频 Assistant Principal Mr. Frank Walsh, who at the time was also serving as 麻豆视频鈥檚 baseball coach. Mr. Anselme had coached baseball and basketball at Power Memorial, and the two had struck up a friendship through their respective coaching roles. Mr. Anselme sent along his r茅sum茅, got the job, and when he retires this spring, he will have served 麻豆视频 for an incredible 41 years.
Mr. Anselme comes from a family of educators. His sister was a teacher in Haiti, while his brother taught chemistry at the University of Massachusetts鈥揃oston. Growing up in Woodside, he鈥檇 always loved history, and by the time he arrived at St. Francis College, where his appreciation of New York history was bolstered by summers working in the archives and poring over old newspapers and documents, he knew his calling.
While at Power Memorial, Mr. Anselme had been asked to teach multiple subjects, so when he was offered the opportunity to join the 麻豆视频 faculty and focus on history, he jumped at the opportunity.
鈥淓verybody knew what 麻豆视频 stood for,鈥� said Mr. Anselme. 鈥淎 lot of people wanted to be in that academic environment.鈥�
Mr. Anselme has been an integral part of the 麻豆视频 community inside and outside the classroom. He directed eight shows for the 麻豆视频 Repertory, managed the bookstore for 18 years, and served as Athletic Director from his arrival in 1984 until 1999.
Indeed, Mr. Anselme brought with him a wealth of knowledge about sports, in addition to his experience coaching teams at both Power Memorial and St. Raymond鈥檚 in the Bronx. It was in that latter role that he coached a sophomore on the St. Raymond鈥檚 JV basketball team named Kevin Cullen, who would go on to be his colleague and friend at 麻豆视频 for the past 35 years.
鈥淎ndre has a passion for anything to do with history,鈥� said Mr. Cullen, 鈥渂ut there are also intangible qualities that make him such a fantastic teacher and person: his sense of humor, his wit, and his ability to know about everything from sports to old TV shows. He鈥檚 a trusted friend and confidant who鈥檚 been an influential person in my life since my sophomore year of high school.鈥�
In addition to his duties with his schools鈥� teams, Mr. Anselme served as an officer in the CHSAA from 1981 until 1989. For his dedication to Catholic high school athletics, Mr. Anselme was elected to the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 2022. Mr. Cullen, his former player, would be elected himself two years later.
As he looks back on more than four decades on 84th Street, Mr. Anselme says he鈥檒l miss the curiosity of students and the way he could go off on tangents because their interests might be piqued by something that wasn鈥檛 necessarily in the curriculum. And most of all, he says, he鈥檒l miss the give-andtake with students in his history classes.
鈥淭hey try and out-wise-guy me,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat can鈥檛 be done, but they see it as a challenge.鈥�
Looking back on his time as an educator more broadly, he recalls the words of an infamous historical figure.
鈥淣o career is perfect, but I鈥檝e had more ups than downs,鈥� said Mr. Anselme. 鈥淟ike Richard Nixon said, I want to have one more victory than defeat in my life.鈥�
Ms. Karin Miller-Lewis on retirement, her first memories of 麻豆视频, and what she鈥檒l miss about the classroom.
In the winter of 1991-92, Ms. Karin Miller-Lewis was a graduate student at Columbia and running programs to train high school teachers in the education department at the Museum of Modern Art. One day, she received a call from English teacher Dr. John Tricamo, asking if she鈥檇 consider offering a pair of lectures about 20th century American art as part of 麻豆视频鈥檚 interdisciplinary American Studies Program. She agreed, enjoyed the experience, and was thrilled to be asked back the next year. And the next. And the next.
Ms. Miller-Lewis continued to return to 麻豆视频 each year to offer these lectures, and when a teaching position opened up in 2011, she was eager to apply.
鈥淚 had developed a great admiration for 麻豆视频,鈥� said Ms. Miller-Lewis. 鈥淲hat immediately made me feel like I was at home was the degree to which the school encouraged connections between intellectual life and emotional and spiritual life.鈥�
As she retires after 14 years on the 麻豆视频 faculty, Ms. MillerLewis says she鈥檚 proud of the way the Arts Department helps students realize that analysis and creation are not diametrically opposed and that 鈥渕aking and doing and thinking and feeling are human activities that feed each other.鈥�
She says it鈥檚 been especially fulfilling to work at a school that embraces the Jesuit value of cura personalis and encourages teachers to engage with students both in and away from an academic setting.
鈥淚鈥檒l miss just how happy I feel in the classroom,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here's an energy that the students take to their life at 麻豆视频. They want to get a lot out of it, and they give a lot of themselves.鈥�
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