This year, the Delbarton Community has the privilege of introducing one of its newest members to the Classics department. Delbarton welcomes Dr. Theresa O’Byrne!

Dr. O’Byrne was born in a small Colorado town called Estes Park adjacent to the majestic Rocky Mountain National Park. While living in this sector of Northern Colorado, she gained a love for two things: hiking and skiing. In fact, the Rocky Mountain National Park maintains more than 355 miles of hiking trails. Dr. O’Byrne attended Estes Park High, graduated, and made a break southward to the University of Colorado where she double-majored in history and anthropology. Soon after, she got her master’s degree at the same college and emigrated to Notre Dame where she got her Ph.D. in Classics and master’s in Medieval Studies. All around this made for 12 years of college and graduate work! As she said herself, “I didn’t like high school that much, but I loved college!”

 Along with her arduous journey to Delbarton, Dr. O’Byrne had a few jobs including teaching stints at Notre Dame, Rutgers and more locally, Pingry. However, in the summertime, she traversed her way to the Great Lakes where she served as a navigator on a tour boat and educated visitors on the history of the surrounding area. Now that she resides in New Jersey, Dr. O’Byrne spends her working hours dealing out knowledge to freshman, middle school and Latin 3 scholars. She also helps moderate the Writing Center and in the winter she will be the assistant Delbarton Ski Team coach. In her free time, you can find Dr. O’Byrne sewing, doing craft work, reading any of the books from the MaddAddam series, or listening to her favorite band: Muse. Additionally, Dr. O’Byrne has an affinity for Moorist dancing, an old English style of dance, and she actively practices and participates in get-togethers with other Moorist dancers. She owns 2 cats, Neko and Pirate; Neko being Japanese for “cat”, Pirate being English for, well, “pirate”. She also has a three-year-old son who is “possibly a future Delbarton scholar”.

 Now that she has had a hearty taste of Delbarton, Dr. O’Byrne is excited to say that she has found a new teaching home and respects Delbarton for its sense of community and its wonderful students. Once again, welcome Dr. O’Byrne!