Role Model, Lifelong Learner, and Traveler

Donna Daigle did not plan to go into teaching, though as a youngster, she used to make her brother, sister, and neighborhood kids “do school,” with her as the teacher. A lifelong interest in all things science, and parents who encouraged scientific pursuits, however, ultimately led her to the classroom.

“The natural world always fascinated me,” says Donna, who grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s “Wild Kingdom” and “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau” and witnessing the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency and Earth Day. “It was a time when people were thinking about the environment, and it was a large influence on my formative years,” Donna adds.

As an undergraduate at Central Connecticut State University, she enrolled in a class for Biology majors. “I did incredibly well, and it just clicked,” recalls Donna, who developed a tutoring program to help other students, and, while an undergraduate, did graduate research for a professor who took her under her wing. Donna was leading Saturday science programs for local middle and high school students when the District Director of Science suggested she apply for a teaching position. The rest, as they say, is history.

Donna retired in June after 24 years at MHS and 35 years teaching overall.

Since joining Miss Hall’s in 2002, she has taught and developed courses across the Science curriculum and was named Science Department Chair in 2018. Other MHS roles included serving on the Resident Team, advising the Judicial Committee, and coaching archery. From 2011-2015, she held the Leonhardt Family Teaching Chair, recognizing an outstanding MHS faculty member.

With girls’ and women’s leadership long core tenets of her classroom pedagogy and life beyond the School, Donna was a member of the MHS Girls’ Leadership Project Working Group and a co-creator of the E.E. Ford seminar, sponsored by the E.E. Ford Foundation, in which Miss Hall’s faculty generated programming and pedagogy around girls’ resilience and leadership.

“I love teaching, and it is time to move on,” says Donna, who also loves to explore and travel and will use her recently purchased camper van to visit family and friends around the country. “Then I will think about where I want to make a difference now that I have time to do these things.”

“I feel something bigger is out there, especially when it comes to women’s empowerment,” she adds. “There’s a focus on women as leaders and how leadership is shifting on the planet. Women are in places where we have more influence, and that influence is growing. I know things will change, because I teach young people, and I see how they work with each other and how they see the world.”

Donna is proud to have taught in and led a department with many female scientists who are role models for MHS students. “To teach young women is a privilege, and I didn’t take that lightly in any way, shape, or form,” she says. “I will miss everyone, and I will miss this place, which is one of the reasons I told people early on that I was retiring. Otherwise, I don’t think I would.”

Congratulations, Donna. Send us postcards!