Madison Country Day School faculty and staff are recruited nationally and internationally and are passionate about teaching and building an exceptional school community. Our faculty and staff are enormously important to the nature of the School because of their deep knowledge and experience in their subjects and their dedication to the teaching profession. Their application of effective teaching techniques and their true love of children are vital to our students’ academic success.
Over half of MCDS faculty have an advanced degree in their field and the average faculty member has 15 years of teaching experience upon which to draw. MCDS strongly supports the ongoing education of its faculty and staff through a wide range of professional development opportunities.
Mr. David “Pat” Acker
BA, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
MBA, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
I think the fundamental purpose of our educational system is to instill a moral code in the rising generation and create a citizenship which will be responsible for the welfare of the nation.
Harry S. Truman
Ms. Portia Adney
BA, CUNY Hunter College
Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds.
Henry VIII (William Shakespeare)
Ms. Ana Banomera
BA, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador
BA, Kalamazoo College
MS, Boston University
Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace camino al andar. Traveler, there is no path. The path must be forged as you walk.
Antonio Machado
Mr. Logan Beatty
BS, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
The answer cannot be found in the writing of others.
Ms. Wendy Bosben
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
John Bosben
Ms. Linda Branzolewski
BME, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MME, Vander Cook College of Music
If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.
Ms. Patty Breun
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Pay attention to the details along the way, but in the end it's all about the big picture.
Ms. Katy Carlson
BS, University Wisconsin-Whitewater
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.
Henry Ford
Ms. Allison Chanson (Qianyu Guo)
BA, Beijing Sport University
MS, Indiana University
From small beginnings come great things.
Mr. Mark Childs
BA, Monmouth College
MA, University of Maryland
Simple design, intense content.
Edward Tufte
Mr. Drew Ciancia
BS, Cornell University
MA, University of Michigan
MA, University College London
JD, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Nature gave us two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak.
Epictetus
Ms. Lydiette Clariz Calderon‑Cancel
BA, Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico
Lo que importa es cuanto amor ponemos en el trabajo que realizamos. It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
Madre Teresa
Mr. Jeremy Clements
BS, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
If there is no struggle, there is no progress.
Frederick Douglas
Mr. Andrew Collins
BA, Art Institute of Colorado
Genius is eternal patience.
Michelangelo
Mr. Eric Cooke
BS, University of Wisconsin-Platteville
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Mr. Patrick Cyr
BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ms. Katherine Dalland
BA, Westmont College
MA, George Mason University
Words are not only meaning, but music and magic and power.
Frederick Beuchner
Ms. Allison Dickman
MEd, University of Wisconsin-Stout
BS, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony D'Angelo
Ms. Eliza Marie Dollete
BA, Northern Illinois University
Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
Dr. Seuss
Mr. Jake Eaton
BA, Carleton College
MS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Leap in, get stuck, push through.
Ms. Elizabeth Evans
BS, Northern Illinois University
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank
Ms. Elizabeth Everitt
BA, Macalester College
Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.
Malala Yousafzai
Brynn Freitag
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy Parker
Ms. Allison Geisler
BS, Arizona State University
Ms. Sally Gerlach
BA, University of Oregon
Mr. Iason Giagtzoglou
BM, University of Macedonia-Thessaloniki, Greece
MM, California State University-Long Beach
You'll come to learn a great deal if you study the Insignificant in depth.
Odysseus Elytis (Poet of the 20th century)
Ms. Emily Glick
BFA, University of Michigan
Ms. Anne Gustafson
BA, Lawrence University
BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he/she grows up.
Pablo Picasso
Ms. Beth Hall
BS, Edgewood College
MA, Cardinal Stritch University
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de St Exupery, The Little Prince
Ms. Tiffany Hanna
BS, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Ms. Molly Herdrich
BA, University of Iowa
MS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Live life in crescendo.
Stephen R. Covey
Mr. Andrew Holdmann
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MEd, DePaul University
Patience and fortitude conquer all things
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Arie Hylkema
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ms. Patricia Jaume
BA, Instituto Nacional del Profesorado
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
Jorge Luis Borges
Mr. Ben Kasten
BA, Bowdoin College
MA, University of London
MA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ms. Sarah Kendrick
Maybe it won’t work out. But maybe seeing if it does will be the best adventure ever.
Ms. Kelly Kirsh
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale
Mr. Matt Koehler
MS, Austin Peay State University
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi
Ms. Erica Kost
BA, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Ms. Michelle Kramer
BS, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MS, Mississippi State University
Stay curious!
Ms. Sadie Laing
BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ms. Julia Larson
MS, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
Ms. Bailee Liebe
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
Albert Einstein
Ms. Zoe Lolis
BS, Northeastern University
MA, Northeastern University
Never underestimate the value of just being you!
Ms. Kristina Luedtke
BS, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.
Aristotle
Mr. Evan Mitchell
BA, Luther College
MM, McGill University
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde
Ms. Aisha Moe
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
I hope you will cherish them as I do and, through my telling, see nothing I have ever accomplished could have been done on my own.
Kamala Harris
Mr. Raymond Nall
Question what you know. Care for those less fortunate. Always ask questions and never stop learning.
Ms. Maheen Ott
BS, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
When you doubt your power you give power to your doubt.
Ms. Caitlin Palazzolo
BS, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Ms. Shelley Petzold
BS, Valparaiso University
MS, University of Maryland
Somewhere something incredible is waiting to be known.
Carl Sagan
Ms. Karla Rempe
BS, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA, Chapman University
This is your world. Shape it or someone else will.
Ms. Julie Rimkus
BS, Northwestern University
MS, Northwestern University
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
Antoine de Saint Exupery
Mr. Carlos Andrés Rojas
Master's degree, Marquette University
Bachelor's degree, Universidad del Quindío
Ms. Laura Romeyn
MFA, Columbia University
BA, St. Olaf College
Ms. Jackie Rose
I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.
John O'Donohue
Ms. Erin Rumschlag
MA, Lee University
[W]hatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Ms. Danika Rzentkowski
You learn by making mistakes! Never give up.
Ms. Rattanjit Sachdeva
Always believe yourself that you can do it.
Ms. Annemieke Savert
BA, HMN the Netherlands
MEd, Viterbo University
Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.
Mr. Jon Schipper
Practice like you've never won, and perform like you've never lost.
Bernard Asuncion
Ms. Cathy Schmaeng
AD, Madison College
Ms. Bethany Schmidt
Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you, no one would believe it.
Ms. Bethany Schultz
BM, Arizona State University
MM, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake—you can't learn anything from being perfect.
Adam Osborne
Mr. Zachary Sea
MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)
BFA, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA)
An artist is someone who is capable of unveiling the invisible, not a producer of art objects. The figure of the artist is very similar to that of the alchemist who transforms base metal into gold; an artist is someone who can put her or himself into a 'transforming' dimension. ... Art reveals another reality.
Shirazeh Houshiary
Mr. Nick Stamm
BA, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Ms. Margaret Stansfield
To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce
Ms. Julia Taylor
BA, National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kiev, Ukraine
MA, National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kiev, Ukraine
MFA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Learning never exhausts the mind.
Leonardo da Vinci
Ms. Megan Thornburgh
BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA, Edgewood College
Mr. Philip Tietze
BM, Indiana University
MM, University of Southern California
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
Aldous Huxley
Ms. Kristin Warner
Never, ever, ever, ever give up.
Winston Churchill
Ms. Cathy Wendt
If you have a garden and a Library you have everything you need.
Ms. Pamela Wentz
BS, University of Wisconsin-Platteville
MEd, University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
William Butler Yeats
Ms. Shannon Whitmus
BS, Edgewood College
Teachers encourage minds to think, hands to create, and hearts to love!
Mr. Laramie Wieseman
The power of imagination makes us infinite.
John Muir
Ms. Cindy Wotruba
BS, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
MS, Marian College
Laugh, and the world laughs with you: Weep and you weep alone. For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth but has trouble enough of its own.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox