Kadeine M. Peterson

“I wanted to learn with the students in multiple ways so that I can help them the most,” Peterson said.

For Biology Instructor Kadeine Peterson, education is not a one-way activity. “I wanted to learn with the students in multiple ways so that I can help them the most,” Peterson said.  Though she was only appointed this year, Peterson has nevertheless become an essential part of the PEA biology department, making an impact on the community both inside and outside of the academic domain.

A native of Jamaica, Peterson and her family moved to Brooklyn, NY when she was just seven years old. Peterson described her upbringing as “very Jamaican” due to the predominantly Caribbean culture of her neighborhood. 

Peterson’s parents were heavily involved in the medical field: her father worked as a pharmacist and her mother was a nurse. Their biological background nourished Peterson’s inquisitiveness. “What they were good about doing was really fostering that curiosity, so anytime I asked a particular question, they would answer,” Peterson said.

Peterson described her passion for biology as a merge between nature and nurture. Throughout high school, she continued to take biological science classes in preparation for medical school. After serving as an intern for a hospital during college, however, it became clear to her that a career as a doctor was not what she wanted. “I was majoring in pre-medicine and ended up hating every minute of it,” she said. “I had a little crisis because I had just done all these programs for 18 years saying that I was going to be a medical doctor.”

Fortunately, Peterson then landed on the path of genetics research. During her subsequent studies in this field at Cornell’s graduate school, Peterson performed various experiments on infertility in mice. It was here that she also discovered her passion for educating others. After having worked as a teaching assistant, she realized that she was more suited for a career with more human interaction than research allowed. “When you start talking to the mice, that’s when you realize that you need ‘people contact’,” she said.

Her decision to teach at a high school, though, was frowned upon by her colleagues in research. “They told me, ‘You already did all this research’,” she said. Such commentary, however, was not enough to stop Peterson. She began teaching at a day school in Brooklyn. Afterwards, she moved to Connecticut to teach at The Hotchkiss School until joining the PEA community this past fall.

One of Peterson’s closest friends, coach Olutoyin Augustus, recalled the moment when Peterson first came to Exeter for her on-campus interview. “I was delighted that my first impressions [of her] were met with affirmation of her genuine, thoughtful spirit and passion for her field of study—not to mention her enviable fashion sense and winning smile,” Augustus said.

For Peterson, the Harkness method was what originally drew her to the Academy. Despite the unconventional role of students at the table as they become each other’s teachers, Peterson described the Harkness pedagogy as the ideal method for teaching biology. To her, the Harkness method was closely related to the research methods she utilized at Cornell. “That’s what I did at Cornell: sat around the table and talked about science,” she said.

These efforts to make her classroom as communicative and interactive as possible are a distinguishing factor to the students in her classes. Prep Jack Ambrogi, who had Peterson in the fall, appreciated her approachable nature in the classroom. “Whenever there were questions in class, she was happy to address them. We really went in depth about anything anybody wanted to know.”

Ambrogi also commended Peterson’s ability to combine levity and learning in the classroom. “[Peterson] connects with anyone in the classroom, no matter how potentially challenging their situation is,” he said. “She brought a lot of humor to the classroom and I really feel like that lightened the atmosphere of biology [class].”

As one of the few females of color in the science department, many students appreciated seeing an academic that looked similar to themselves. “I had [Peterson] during fall term. I saw that she was African-American woman, like myself,” said prep Olivia McMallum. “I felt a certain safety with her… and she was an amazing teacher.” As the faculty advisor of the recently-revived Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA), Peterson recognizes the importance of “understanding that there are various ways that shape our identities,” and acknowledges that “it would be really nice to have a space to talk about that in a celebratory manner.”

Since Peterson values these close relationships with her students, an important factor in her decision to join the Exeter community was the residential component. Currently, Peterson; her husband, coach Josh Peterson; her four-year-old son Jack Maverick and eleven month baby boy Kingston, are residents of Hoyt Hall. She noted that growing up, her most memorable teachers had always spent ample time with her. At Exeter, she strives to do the same with her own students. “I deliberately chose to move from a day school to a boarding school because, as much as I loved my day school, I realized there were aspects of the students’  [lives] that I was missing,” she said.

Peterson’s role as one of the dorm faculty of Hoyt Hall is one of both attentiveness and kindness. “When she is on duty [at 8 p.m.], she doesn’t have a proctor do it—she does it herself because she wants to check in with everyone,” said lower Sarah Wang. This small action shows Wang that Peterson genuinely cares about every student in the dorm.

Religion Instructor and Hoyt Hall dorm faculty Thomas Ramsey further commented on Peterson’s important role in the dorm. “Mrs. Peterson is a great colleague to work with in Hoyt,” Ramsey said. “She is hardworking and dedicated, but she always brings a sense of humor to dorm life.” Ramsey recalled Peterson’s 800 clue crossword puzzle that she pasted on her wall in the beginning of the year as a testament to her devotion to the dorm.

Even outside the dorm and classroom, Peterson has made an impact on others. “Since her arrival, I can say from a personal standpoint that Mrs. Peterson and her family have greatly improved my level of happiness and feeling of being grounded despite the fact that I am the one who has spent the past seven years on campus,” said Augustus. “These are the kinds of relationships that bring the joy to life—necessary for thriving faculty.”