“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 knitted together quite a busy life at Loomis Chaffee: teacher, coach, dorm head. But hasn’t that always been her way? Not that long ago she was a gifted Loomis student, multi-sport captain, record-setting swimmer, and dorm resident assistant.

She 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 and was wondering if she’d be interested in teaching math, a subject in which she had received department honors. Here she is in 2024, heading into year No. 13, fully immersed, always keeping her head above water.

“I have always enjoyed the learning aspect of school, but I wasn’t the most confident student,” Liz said.  “Teachers would say, ‘We’d love to hear her talk more, participate more.’ So, the fact that I am now a teacher and speak in front of a class every day is funny to me.”

She remembers her first year back on the Island.

“I made mistakes, as most first-year teachers do,” Liz said, “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.”

Math and science teacher. Coach. Dorm head. In the boarding school world, she is what is called a “triple threat,” someone proficient in three areas of their chosen field.

“I will never say I am done figuring it out, but I do feel like the pieces are coming together and I am able to see how one part of my job relates to another part of my job, and they are not just separate pieces,” Liz said.

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 said. “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 that 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 said.

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 and was a captain. 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, 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 team. Bob retired after the 2023–24 school year, and Liz is taking over as head coach.

“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 said. “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.

“That's the best compliment I can get, having a parent or a student say this was like a home for them,” said Liz, who is head of Palmer Hall.

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.

Liz enjoys reading and the outdoors, still finds time to swim, and has completed two triathlons. On this July day, Liz sat in the common room of Palmer, where the girls sometimes might find her crocheting, a hobby she picked up a few years back. She made some scarves and blankets but found that boring.

“So I made my first stuffed animal, and I liked that it wasn’t the same thing over and over,” Liz said.

She sells her animals yearly at a craft fair in the town in which she grew up, Salisbury, Conn., and calls her business Elizabeth’s Ark “because I only make a couple of each type of animal and pattern before I try something new. So I have made a lot of different ones at this point. I rarely make the same thing more than a couple times unless I really like it. I find it much more fun to try something new.”

As she spoke, all was quiet in Palmer. “Quiet” is a word not often associated with her life.

“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,” Liz said. “I’ve known them in so many ways, and you see so many amazing layers to them because of that. And vice versa. As a student Bob was my coach for two sports. His wife [Ginny, who also retired after the 2023–24 school year] was my advisor. His kids [Jake ’07 and Chris ’07] were some of my closest friends. That doesn't happen in a lot of places; this is a special community for something like that.”

Liz is one of the special ones in that community. Teacher. Coach. Dorm head.

“Not everyone will enjoy that much chaos in their life,” she said, letting out a laugh. “I just happen to enjoy a lot of chaos in my life.”

She will be busier than ever, having taken over for Bob as head coach of the girls swimming team. Liz said she is excited to follow in the footsteps of her mentor.  She will keep many things the same — why mess with success — but wants to make her own splash, too. Undoubtedly, she will.