"My previous roles have helped me develop skills that will be useful in this one, such as organizational skills, event planning, getting people excited, and collaborating with people across the community.”

Jennine Solomon is a people person with no shortage of energy, which fits well with her newest role — director of student programs and events. She's also on the science faculty and the dorm head of Richmond Hall.

"The [new] role is interesting to me because it is centered [on] community and joy," Jen says. "I’m hoping that community members feel like there are programs and events on campus that are engaging, that bring people together, and that represent the diverse community we have at Loomis."

Jen previously has served as associate director of the Pearse Hub for Innovation (PHI), director of the Innovation Trimester, robotics coach, and interim dean of students.

"My previous roles have helped me develop skills that will be useful in this one, such as organizational skills, event planning, getting people excited, and collaborating with people across the community," Jen says. "My role in the PHI, for example, centered on creative thinking and iterating. In my new role, creative thinking is critical, and creating a culture of feedback is imperative to building a program that is engaging for community members. As an interim dean of students, working with the Office of Student Life allowed me to look at the intentional programming we have over the course of a school year or a student’s tenure over multiple years, to see how these events and programs fit into the larger experience of a Loomis Chaffee student."

Jen's passion for working with students goes back to her days growing up in New Jersey. She knew for a long time that she wanted to become a teacher. 

“I enjoyed school and really loved going to Staples to pick out school supplies at the beginning of the school year,” Jen says with a laugh. “It made me so happy. And I was really good at math and science. I loved those teachers, those classes, the only Advanced Placement courses I took.”

She also enjoyed theater and music. Jen played the flute for eight years and was president of the Thespian Society in high school.

She is a graduate of Bucknell University, where she majored in biology and minored in education. She taught in New Jersey, Ohio, and California before coming to Loomis Chaffee in 2017.

Her biology students at Loomis once asked her what sport she played in high school. “I said I didn’t play sports, that I did theater. ‘I majored in biology and did theater, and here I am performing science for you,’” Jen recalls. Her students told her the combination of her interests made a lot of sense.

“I'm just quirky and loud and energetic, and I don’t really care what people think of me in that regard,” Jen says. “I'm weird. I attract quirky people, and I hope people find it endearing. I am excited to see people all the time, and that is just who I am.”

She enjoyed her time in the PHI, a place in which she says the philosophy was to have "a low floor and a high ceiling. ... Regardless of a student's skill set, if you are interested in learning something, we have a tool for you from beginning to advanced. There is room to meet kids where they are coming in, and then room for all students to expand their skills in some area should they want to.”

Jen says she has seen many wonderful products and innovations come out of the PHI, but to her it all starts with people, be it students or other teachers.

“That's why I became a teacher, because I like working with other people,” she says. The best moments in the PHI are when students come in and immediately start working on their projects. They are not waiting, she says, for anyone to tell them what to do.

"They come in early," she says, "and they stay late because they really want to do what they’re doing. To me that is awesome that the students are so engaged and they find it so meaningful. They are doing it when they do not have to, when no one is looking over their shoulder, and not for the grade, but because it matters to them.”