Carolyn "Cary" Girod, 1977-2009
 The BB&N community received tragic news of the death of 31-year-old Upper School mathematics teacher Cary Girod on July 9, 2009.
Ms. Girod was fatally injured when she and her companion, Nils Sorensen, were struck by an automobile while they were bicycling near the town of Raymond, Washington. Ms. Girod was pushed into oncoming traffic, where she received fatal head and internal injuries.
“Although Cary was with us for just one year,” said Upper School Director Jack Knapp, “she made such a significant impact on the Upper School community. Her work in the mathematics classroom was first-rate and she embraced with great enthusiasm her role as a member of this campus, perhaps most memorably in her spirited coordination of the Upper School’s participation in the Green Cup Challenge this past winter.”
Dr. Knapp added, “We’ll remember Cary as a fine scholar and mentor, a dedicated athlete, a passionate supporter of environmental causes, and as a warm and friendly colleague.”
“Cary was a talented and caring teacher,” said Christine Oulton, Upper School Mathematics Department Head. “She had a passion for math, and a passion for helping kids. She was a cool, young, active teacher who had a quirky side as well as a love for math jokes and puzzles. Her students admired her for all these reasons, as well as for the fact that she spent many free blocks giving extra help and doing everything she could to help each student succeed.”
For someone so young, Ms. Girod had already carved out an impressive and wide-ranging teaching career by the time she arrived at BB&N in September 2008. She came to BB&N from the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, where she had taught math and environmental science for two years. She had started her career at Phillips Andover Academy, where she was a teaching fellow, and had also worked for the Outward Bound program and as a teaching assistant at the University of New Hampshire. Ms. Girod had earned her master’s degree at UNH after receiving her bachelor’s degree at the University of Chicago.
“We had the wonderful privilege of knowing Ms. Girod in many ways,” wrote senior parents Donald and Charlene Medeiros, “as our daughter Kathryn’s pre-calculus teacher, as one of the Environmental Club leaders, and as a constant supporter for the Cross Country Team. But most of all, we will remember her for the genuine caring person she was and the positive impression she has left on Kathryn. Ms. Girod will be so missed.”
CLICK HERE to read a touching article in The Boston Globe on Cary's life |
