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The Winchendon School

The best college prep school for students with significant unrealized potential

Admissions

Ruby Bencosme

As a native New Yorker, Ms. Bencosme has worked in school operations in NYC prior to joining The Winchendon School community. As a natural explorer and lover of cultures, she has traveled around the globe. Ms. Bencosme’s passion for education led her to teach English as a foreign language in Spain. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from Hunter College and TEFL from Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. During her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring new cities, and spending time with loved ones. Ms. Bencosme is excited to be an incoming faculty member at TWS NYC!”

Favorite Quote: “Since life is short and the world is wide, the sooner you start exploring it, the better.” – Simon Raven 

Superpower of choice: Teleportation!

Song to start the day: “On Top of the World” – Imagine Dragons

Favorite escape and book that Ms. Bencosme would take with her: “Platja del Bogatell in Barcelona, Spain and I would take The Four Agreements. There’s nothing better than the sound of the waves and a good read.

Favorite pastime: Hiking! “I love that feeling when you have reached the top and get to admire the view from above.”

“Bucket List” trip that Ms. Bencosme would like to take: Backpack along the east coast of Australia!

Mike Busconi ’13

Coach Mike Busconi ’13 returns to Winchendon to take charge of our top boys team for the ’23-24 season. After graduating from Winchendon, Coach Busconi went on to play at Westfield State and then for three years at Southern New Hampshire University.   Coach Busconi has been extensively involved in the New England Hockey as first a player, but then a coach and recruiter.   More recently he was part of the coaching team that took one of our peer schools to a championship, a coach for the Islanders Hockey Club, and founded and is President of Boston Hockey Club.  We are thrilled to have Coach Mike Busconi ’13 returning to Winchendon to take the helm of our Boys Hockey Program.  Mike receive his bachelors in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.

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!)!

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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