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The Winchendon School

The best college prep school for students with significant unrealized potential

Admissions

Erika M. Rothkegel

A native of Massachusetts, Erika holds citizenship in both the USA and Chile. Erika attended both high school and college in Amherst, MA before heading to Florida.  While in Florida she worked at a boarding school and found her passion; connecting with both the students and their families. Returning back to Massachusetts from her experiences in Thailand and living in Guatemala, Erika is right at home at The Winchendon School.

Favorite hobbies: Photography, reading & CrossFit

Favorite Globetrotting adventure? Sleeping under the stars in Macchu Picchu, after graduating college … highly recommend everyone take a once-in-a-lifetime trip before adulting!

Go-to comfort food? Chocolate

Song to start the day? Ain’t no Mountain High Enough

On the bucket list? Travel, travel, travel!  (Top 3 locations: Greece, Paris & Africa)

Melissa Essman

Melissa’s love of cooking almost led her to culinary school, but luckily for us, this iced coffee year-round drinker landed at The Winchendon School | NYC directing the Admissions Office at our Herald Square campus. And as passionate as Melissa is about her iced coffee, her own educational experience is why she is passionate about the work she does, helping families to find the school that makes them feel as positive about their education as she did about her journey.  When she’s not binging on true crime podcasts, you’re likely to find melissa at the beach, cooking, or spending time with her family.
“I have worked in college admissions offices for the past several years and I couldn’t be happier working with students and families to help make their educational dreams come true. I am a true believer in education and am a strong advocate for students and families, so The Winchendon School community was immediately appealing to me.”
Which Winchendon class or ColLAB would you most like to take? Digital Filmmaking! I have always been fascinated by the magic of movies and television, so I’d love the chance to get to experience that in the hands-on way our ColLAB opportunities provide!
A favorite place to visit and the books you would take there? Sedona, Arizona, or Marco Island, Florida. They’re very different, but they each offer the opportunity to be outside, take in amazing sights, and relax, but in very different ways! I’ll be reading The Great Gatsby on every vacation for the rest of time, plus any new, funny, or interesting (auto)biography I can get my hands on.
On the bucket list? An extended, immersive trip to Italy. The food! The culture! The sights! The fashion! The food (again!)!

Ricky Leonard

Coach Leonard knows basketball. And he knows Coach Kehoe having played for him during his own prep school career. After prep school, Coach Leonard went on to play at New England College in New Hampshire where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from New England College.

Olivia Frushell

“Genuinely, one of the nicest people I have ever met.” That’s how Olivia’s classmates describe her. A graduate of the Class of 2014, Olivia and her brother Peter, were two of three of the first Frushell’s to attend “the Winch” (brother Marcantonio was the first in the class of 2012). Olivia lives on campus in Ford, but gets to see her siblings everyday as the nine Frushells’ have at one point or another called Winchendon School, “home.”

On the bucket list: I want to give a TED talk!

What inspires you: Music is something I acquire so much inspiration from. I often wake up & fall asleep to music. I’ve been to numerous concerts of all sizes but I’ll be the first person to post up and watch someone playing music on the street. I’m a harsh critic of what I like to call the “banter” of an entertainer (the things they say to the crowd). I find those words can be so uplifting and are what set a live show apart from listening to music.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working: I love to spend time with my family. Our house is home to eleven people so it is always bustling with activity. My siblings and I go for drives either one on one or in car fulls. We talk for hours or hold mini concerts in the car. We have a three year old niece named Aviana that we all dote on. She is the highlight of our days.

Song to start the day: I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston!

Jeff Pellegrini

Jeff Pellegrini arrived at The Winchendon School from Shattuck-St. Mary’s where he was coaching since 2018. Previously, Pellegrini racked up 15 years of NCAA Division I and Division III collegiate coaching experience. His experience includes six years coaching women’s hockey at Northeastern University and guiding the Huskies to the program’s first-ever Hockey East Championship (2018).  Jeff’s responsibilities include driving broad program development, including recruiting and development of all players across The Winchendon School’s teams.

 

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