Retiring Faculty Feature: Rebecca Moore (1990)

By  SAM ALTMAN, ALLEGRA LAI, JINMIN LEE, and LILY RAMPE

Her team gathers around, waiting to hear her wise advice before their race. Nine rowers and a coxswain, matching in red and black unis and white visors, listen to every word she says. They picture themselves flying down the 1500 meter course, ahead of all the boats. With the support of Coach Moore, they know that they will have the attention, technique, and strength to succeed. 

Instructor in English Rebecca “Becky” Moore has been a beloved member of the Exeter community for 34 years. Throughout her career at Exeter, she has served as an English teacher, crew coach, dorm head, department chair, and as one of the founding faculty members of Exeter Humanities Initiative.

Before coming to Exeter, Moore taught English, coached crew, and lived in a dorm at Choate Rosemary Hall. After her husband became the Director of Admissions at the Brooks School, Moore worked part-time while going to graduate school and raising her family. She worked part-time at Exeter by teaching English and coaching JV crew, commuting from Brooks. Moore then became a full-time faculty member and taught through the School Year Abroad Program in France for a year. When she came back, she continued teaching and coaching while living with her family in McConnell Hall. 

Moore enjoys a lot of the things that make Exeter unique. “I think the ratio [between faculty and students] is right. I wish all kids had an opportunity to learn at this ratio. I think it’s fair to kids, makes them active, seen, and challenges them in good ways. I like my colleagues. I like the students. I like the river. I like being in a walking town, where I can ride my bike to a lot of places. I like the school’s commitment to all kinds of diversity, economic, social, national, racial, and yet a complete commitment to intensity about school.”

Moore said that one challenge she faced during her early years at Exeter was the balance between family and work. “The school has a daycare center and that’s huge. It was much smaller when we first got here, but it was one of the reasons I could stay here. The balance has gotten better since I came here. We have such flexibility in the schedule and every term you can teach less or more,” Moore said.

Instructor in English Jane Cadwell has been a good friend of Moore’s throughout her time at Exeter. “I met Becky on the day I interviewed for the English teaching job at Exeter, and we have had many delightful adventures since. We have served together on multiple Academy committees, ridden our bikes together many miles, traveled together, and worked with each other at the Exeter Humanities Institute for a very long time.”  

Cadwell continued, speaking about the influence Moore has had on Exeter. “Becky was instrumental in developing the Humanities Institute, which is now internationally known for teaching the Harkness pedagogy by having teachers become the students at the table rather than being idle teachers being told what to do. This is something unique in professional development. Becky has also been the standard bearer for gender equality in our department-always reminding us to be vigilant when we choose books and invite speakers and writers to work with our students.” 

As Moore impacted many past students and colleagues during her time at Exeter, she also acknowledged those who influenced her at Exeter: An ongoing colleague I want to mention is Sarah Odell, who’s going to be the Dean of Faculty at the University School in San Francisco.”

“I would like to mention David Swift and Lauren Smith, who helped me in the job application process because they said to the dean of faculty ‘She’d be good.’” 

“[I want to thank] Peter Greer, who was the English chair. Then all my colleagues in English— the English department’s a clever, committed creative group, and I like being in with them.”

“Then, I want to acknowledge all the rowing coaches. I think the sense of the faculty itself, the sense that at its best, the faculty’s a committed and really thoughtful group of people. I value that.” 

Alex Myers, an Exeter graduate and Moore’s faculty mentee, expressed his appreciation for Moore’s passion and character. “Becky is the rare person who does a lot of things well. Teaching, coaching, mentoring. She brings passion and excitement, even to things she has done over and over again. She also has a strong set of values and advocates for those values, even when she knows they are unpopular... and at the same time she is open-minded. I think that’s a rare thing and extremely valuable.”

“Ms. Moore is one of most memorable teachers I’ve met at Exeter,” alumna Michelle Kwock stated. “Her writing assignments were always challenging and pushed me to have the discipline of writing more concisely with less meaningless fluff. My most difficult English assignment was to write a short descriptive piece with only single-syllable words, and it seems like her challenging assignments haven’t changed much over the years.” 

“Coach Moore has been such an impactful mentor for me at Exeter being a caring and encouraging constant at the boathouse and an insightful teacher in class. Her emphasis on teaching us to do both hard and meaningful work has led me to be a better student, athlete, and community member for which I will be forever grateful.” senior Edie Fisher commented. 

“Ms. Moore demanded richness and quality of thought from her students in the best possible way. I will be forever grateful for the impact she had on my life when it came to helping me realize the full ow extent of the intellectual vitality and critical analysis capability I had inside. Whether it was our time carefully working through The Scarlet Letter or Mrs. Dalloway, I remember Ms. Moore uniquely promoting excellence in preparation, contributions around the table, and assignments. Congratulations on your well deserved next chapter, Ms. Moore!” alumnus Jacob Pressman stated.  

Moore particularly favors teaching writing assignments that were part of Exeter long before her arrival, of which she learnt to teach from her senior colleagues when she joined the academy. “I love teaching the ‘Reporter at Large’ and I love teaching Meditation. Those two assignments I think are great assignments. I like teaching something called the Reporter at Small, which is when people interview their classmates and do profiles of their classmates. Those are really beautiful.”

“One of my favorite things that we did in Ms. Moore’s class was play icebreakers frequently throughout the term to get us more comfortable around each other. I think it really helped to open up the Harkness table. Another thing I thought was really helpful was the checklist of items to look through when you’re writing an essay. Even after I’ve left her class, I still use it for my writing, because it really did improve the flow of my papers,” lower Towner Akers said. 

“I found her classes enjoyable,” agreed lower Ethan Benenson. “I think Ms. Moore did a good job teaching the science of writing and boiling it down to the purest forms; she emphasized sentence structures and gave us handouts to help us visualize what good writing looked like. She also gave us the freedom to choose our own topics, which I appreciated.” 

“I thought she was really creative with her teaching,” lower Shawna Jiang commented. “She had so many ways of getting the class engaged. For example, one time we had different roles doled out to us before we began the class. Maybe someone would be the contributor, one would be the person who asks a lot of questions, one would be the leader — but no one would know who was who. It ended up being really fun, and it was an interesting way to get everyone involved at the Harkness table.”

“I just want to say thank you, Ms. Moore,” Akers concluded. “Thank you for your writing tips which may have seemed tedious at first but helped me to significantly improve as a writer. The way you ran Harkness and the class as a whole made me enjoy the class and actually got me reading independently again.”

“Ms. Moore was a key role model for me during my time at Exeter. She was an amazing JV crew coach and end of season crew banquets at her home were always a highlight as were her pieces of advice outside of the classroom and off the water. Thank you for your impact on me, Ms. Moore and enjoy retirement!” alumnus Ainsley Fahey said. 

“Thank you so much Coach Moore for being such a caring and motivating mentor throughout my time at Exeter as both a coach in the boathouse and a teacher around the Harkness table. I always look forward to coming to the boathouse because I know that you will be there smiling and excited about practice no matter what we are doing that day. Have an amazing time in retirement!” Fisher expressed. 

“I would like to express my deep gratitude and admiration. She should know how much I appreciate her candor, wisdom, and sense of humor,” Myers said. 

After she retires this year, Moore will be missed by many at Exeter. Cadwell reflected, “When I think of Becky at Exeter, I see her out my classroom window riding down the hill to Phillips Hall on her green bicycle, skirt fluttering behind her. I will miss her steady presence, her respect for institutional memory, her loud laugh that travels the length of Phillips Hall, her resilience, and her willingness to stand up for her beliefs. The Academy will be a different place without her.”