“I’ve had kids that I have taught, coached, they have been in my dorm, they have been my advisees, they have been one of my RAs [resident assistants]. I’ve known them in so many ways, and you see so many amazing layers to them because of that.”

Liz Bucceri ’07 has had a busy life working at Loomis Chaffee over the years: teacher, coach, dorm head, and now the director of residential life. But hasn’t that always been her way? She was a gifted Loomis student, multi-sport captain, record-setting swimmer, and dorm resident assistant.

Liz comes from a family of educators, though after graduating from Hamilton College, she wasn’t thinking of becoming a teacher. Then Bob DeConinck contacted her. He had coached Liz in two sports at Loomis and was wondering if she’d be interested in teaching math, a subject in which she had received departmental honors. And here she is now, the director of residential life since 2025. She remains fully immersed, always keeping her head above water.

"Although I genuinely have enjoyed all my roles at Loomis, being a dorm head has always held a special place in my heart," Liz says. "I served as the dorm head of Palmer Hall for nine years, and it remains one of the most rewarding parts of my career. For several years, I also led our dorm life team, working with all our dorm heads. In that role, I organized our monthly meetings, facilitated conversations, and helped foster collaboration and consistency across the residential program. This is now also a part of my new role with even more responsibilities."

She says it felt like "a natural next step" when the opportunity to apply for the director of residential life position arose. "I was excited by the chance to have a broader impact on the boarding community, strengthen the residential experience for our students, and serve as an advocate for the dorm leaders who do so much to make our community feel like home," Liz says.

As the director of residential life, she oversees many aspects of boarding life at Loomis. Her responsibilities include managing student housing, leading the team of dorm heads, supporting and training prefects and resident assistants (RAs), addressing residential life issues throughout the year, and serving as the residential life liaison within the Office of Student Life.

She still teaches the term course Comparative Anatomy, a course she created several years ago.

She remembers her first year back on the Island as a teacher.

“I made mistakes, as most first-year teachers do,” Liz says, “but I do think I had a natural instinct of how to communicate with the kids in my class, and having that instinct helped me learn how to teach. From the student side I knew what boarding school was like, what Loomis was like, I knew how to connect with them, and then I learned how to be a teacher from there. Over the years I have been able to put all the pieces together, and I love all the aspects of being here.”

In her view, the best teachers are patient and flexible, adapting when something might not be working as planned.

“Every class and every student is so different that you can’t be that rigid,” Liz says. “You need the flexibility of being able to say, ‘Well, that didn't work, so let’s try it another way.’”

The best coaches, she says, are those who push you beyond what you might have thought were your limitations but are there to catch you if you fall.

“A lot of what I think of as a good coach comes from my experiences with Bob DeConinck because he was the best coach I ever had, not just in swimming, but in athletics in general,” Liz says.

She was on the Loomis water polo and swim teams with Bob as her coach, each team winning a New England title her senior year when she was a captain. She also ran cross country all four years and was a captain as a senior. Liz was awarded the Barbara W. Erickson Senior Athletic Achievement Prize. She set school records in the 200-yard freestyle, the 500-yard free, and the 400-meter free, and she went on to have an outstanding four-year swimming career at Hamilton College, serving as captain as a senior. When she came back to the Island as a teacher, she began working with Bob as an assistant coach of the girls swim team. Bob retired after the 2023–24 school year, and Liz is now head coach of the team.

“He always had a good balance of toughness and pushing you further than you thought you could go while still being there to support you if it didn’t work,” Liz says. “He was pushing you, he was tough on you, but he was doing it because he cared and knew you could handle it and wanted you to do better.”

The best dorm head, she says, makes the dorm a place where all can feel confident, comfortable, and able to express themselves freely. A place to call home. When Liz was head of Palmer, she says, the best compliment was "having a parent or a student say this was like a home for them."

She also sees the dorm as a place where learning occurs. Students come from all over the United States and the world, so there is great opportunity to learn from others’ cultures and experiences.

“I’ve had kids that I have taught, coached, they have been in my dorm, they have been my advisees, they have been one of my RAs,” Liz says. “I’ve known them in so many ways, and you see so many amazing layers to them because of that. "