Belmont Hill Welcomes Four New Faculty Members

Marc Cibelli
Belmont Hill welcomes Mr. Cibelli to the History Department and as a coach of hockey and baseball. He joins us from Lawrenceville School where he taught World History and Native American History. At the Millbrook School, he was the interim History Department Chair. He has extensive coaching experience as well and was the assistant boys’ varsity hockey coach at both Lawrenceville and Millbrook and the assistant boys’ varsity baseball coach at Millbrook. Mr. Cibelli holds a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Social Science from Wesleyan University and a B.A. in Political Science with minors in History and Education from Skidmore College. At Skidmore, he captained the varsity hockey team.

Maureen Courtney
Dr. Courtney is very familiar with Belmont Hill as a current parent, former dorm parent, and spouse of former faculty member Jared Courtney ’97. She joins Belmont Hill’s Science Department, where she will teach four sections of science and coach robotics. Dr. Courtney has seventeen years of teaching upper school biology, chemistry, neuroscience, human anatomy and physiology, psychology, and robotics courses with levels ranging from introductory to Advanced Placement. Dr. Courtney has taught at the Cambridge School of Weston and then at  Hill School and Rivers School where she was the department chair at both institutions. She has published many scientific papers and is a health and wellness speaker on topics including vaping, drug and alcohol awareness, and video and social media addiction. She holds a Ph.D. in psychological and brain sciences and an M.A. and B.A. in psychology all from Boston University.

Daniel DeFraia
Dr. DeFraia will join Belmont Hill as a one-year interim English teacher providing sabbatical coverage. With experience as a visiting professor and journalist-in-residence at Emerson College, his teaching portfolio includes history, literature, essay writing, journalism, and narrative non-fiction. He will also coach soccer and assist with extracurricular student clubs. Previously, he was a Steiger Fellow at the Committee to Protect Journalists and worked in their journalist assistance program. Prior to that, he reported for GlobalPost and other news outlets. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University, an M.L.A. in English from Harvard Extension, and a B.A. in writing and literature from Emerson College. 

Sam Messina
Mr. Messina joins the Belmont Hill faculty as a one-year teaching fellow in the Science department. He is a recent graduate of Middlebury College where he earned his B.A. in environmental geology with a minor in education. As a football offensive lineman, he was named to the NESCAC All-Academic squad four times. He was inducted into the Vermont Collegiate Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame, named to the National Football Foundation Hampshire Honor Society, and received Middlebury’s John P. Stabile '40 Memorial Trophy which is Awarded to a member of a men's team who best exemplifies the Middlebury Spirit. Mr. Messina will also coach in our football and wrestling programs. He will live on campus and be a part of the residential life team.