AEHS VAPA Faculty
Greg Casement
Music Education (University of Delaware) MM Music Education (University of Miami)
Greg Casement is currently the VAPA Academy Instrumental Music Teacher at Albert Einstein High School. Joining the faculty in 2021, he
is excited to be a part of this amazing community. Prior to his time at AEHS Greg has taught music for seven years, and most recently was the instrumental music teacher at Paint Branch H.S. in Burtonsville, MD. He has an extensive background in percussion,
jazz, and the marching arts and is an active leader in the music education community. Greg is the creator of the MoCo Marching Band Collective, the co-founder of the MCPS Marching Band Showcase and is on the executive board of the Montgomery County Music Educators Association and the Maryland Marching Band Association.
Courses: Concert Band, Concert Orchestra, Symphonic Ensemble, Jazz Lab Band, Jazz Ensemble
Judybeth Greene
MAT Art Education (GWU/Corcoran School of Art & Design), JD (George Washington Law School), Post Baccalaureate (Maryland Institute College of Art), BA Political Science (Union College)
Judybeth Greene joined the visual art team at Albert Einstein High School in 2020. Ms. Greene has taught visual art at the Washington International School (MS) and Capital City Public Charter School (HS). Her work has been featured in galleries and local venues such as Artscape and Eastern Market, and she has received numerous commissions. Ms. Greene is active in community-based social justice art programs; Greene was awarded a Creativity Grant from the Maryland State Arts Commission for her community-building ceramics program, and regularly serves as a judge for the Montgomery County ACT-SO art competition. Ms. Greene designed a 60’ mural at the Center for Creative Non-Violence in DC and guided middles schoolers creating murals at Neelsville Middle School (though Story Tapestries). She previously worked as a voting rights lawyer with the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice for over 27 years.
Courses: Ceramics & Sculpture 1
Dustine Harper
MA Teaching & BA General Sculpture Studies (Maryland Institute Collage of Art)
Dustine Harper is one of the visual arts teachers at Albert Einstein High School, where she joined the art team in the spring of 2016. Ms. Harper has taught visual arts for over 30 years at every grade level from preK-12. She is a graduate of Montgomery Blair HS, and the Visual Arts Center at Einstein HS. She graduated from MICA with a BA in general sculpture studies, MA in Teaching, and has over 60 additional graduate credits in the arts. As a practicing visual artist she has exhibited throughout the US and Europe. Ms. Hayrper was a featured artist in Spring 2017 at the Rockville Art Mansion.
Courses: Ceramics & Sculpture II, Foundations of Art, Functional Fine Arts & Craft I & II
Grace Hardiman
BS Art Education & BS Fine Arts (Towson University)
Grace Hardiman joined the staff in 2022 as the Digital Art and Photography teacher. Ms. Hardiman is widely trained in a variety of art forms such as painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, photography and digital arts. She explored many forms of art during her time at Towson University, however she always loved digital media the most. In 2018, she began teaching Studio Art at Shady Grove Middle School. During her time there, she created a Digital Art program. Ms. Hardiman is passionate about inclusive teaching where every student feels heard and represented. She was the coordinator for Understanding Diversity through the Arts Exhibition which hung in the Rockville Library March- August 2022. She views digital art and photography as a fine art that is vastly important in today's world. Ms. Hardiman is also a proud graduate of the VAC program at Albert Einstein.
Courses: Digital Art I, II, III, AP 2D Art & Design (Digital Art), Photography I
Rachel Herman
Rachel Herman is the VAPA Academy Theatre and Choral Music Teacher at Albert Einstein High School. She joined the arts community at Einstein in 2025. Prior to her time at AEHS, Ms. Herman taught 4th and 5th grades in MCPS, and has been the resident choreographer at Richard Montgomery HS and the Jr. Company of Ovations Theatre. As a proud MCPS graduate, she has been heavily involved in the theatre and choral scene since high school, performing in all-county choir ensembles, and receiving the Superintendent's All-County Performing Arts award for theatre in 2018. In the summers, she serves as the Leadership Training Coordinator at Camp Louise in Cascade, MD, working with high schoolers on leadership skills, life skill applications, and college readiness.
Courses: Chorus 1 & 2, Chamber Choir, Theatre I & II, IB Theatre I & II
Steph Hooton
BFA Photography (Carnegie Mellon University)
Steph Hooton has over 30 years of experience in the field of visual communications and is a subject matter expert in design and photography. Ms. Hooton is one of the few visual communicators in the United States to have been accepted into Yale University’s Graduate Summer Program, held in Brissago Switzerland. Ms. Hooton is a principal and founding partner of Pictogram Studio, a multi-disciplinary firm specializing in creative products and services, whose past clients include American University, National Institutes of Health, Nordstrom, Mobil, Sallie Mae and the U.S. Department of Defense. Ms. Hooton has taught at George Washington University / Corcoran College of Art and Design, as well as other regional schools, for over 25 years. The recipient of scores of awards, Ms. Hooton's professional and personal work has been exhibited throughout the region, is well represented in over fifty major international and national industry publications, and has been featured in such mainstream national media venues as CBS Evening News, USA Today, and Washington Post. Active in both local and national professional communication arts communities, Ms. Hooton has judged numerous awards and scholarship programs, sat on panels and discussion groups at local events, contributed articles to communication arts publications, served as a Board Member and Committee Member for the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, and served on various Committees of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.
Courses: Photography 1, 2, 3, AP Photography
Hannah Kerr
BFA Dance and Choreography (Virginia Commonwealth University); MFA Dance (George Washington University)
Hannah Kerr is the VAPA Academy Dance Director at Albert Einstein High School. She has over 20 years of
experience teaching dance in schools where she has developed middle and high school programs. In addition to teaching,
she has served in administrative roles supporting Dance and the Fine Arts. She has toured with various dance companies
such as Clancyworks, Gesel Mason and was mentored by Liz Lerman. Her original compositions have been produced and performed along the East Coast and France. For several summers, she has been selected as a participant in the National Endowment for Humanities Institute, studying the intersection of dance and culture. Currently, she is pursuing an EdD in Dance Education at Teacher's College, Columbia University.
Courses: Dance As A Fine Art, Dance As PE, Dance 2, Choreography, Dance 3, Dance Company
Michael Metzner
BA Studio Art, BA Art Education (Hood College)
Michael Metzner has been at Albert Einstein High School since 2013. Prior to teaching at Einstein, Michael worked as a professional potter and currently teaches pottery classes for adults at the Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts. Michael believes that practicing art and learning are lifelong endeavors, and is currently pursuing his MFA in ceramic arts from Hood College.
Courses: Ceramics & Sculpture 1-3, AP Studio 3-D Design
Laura Petito
MEd (University of Maryland, College Park), BFA Painting & Art History (Syracuse University)
Laura Petito started at Albert Einstein High School in 2021. Prior to Einstein she taught at Newport Mill Middle School, where she spent three years teaching visual art. Prior to receiving her Master's degree in education, she was a visual merchandiser and display artist for Anthropologie. Ms. Petito is a product of MCPS schools, having graduated from Walter Johnson High School.
Courses: 2-D Studio Art 1,2, 3, AP 2-D Art & Design, AP Drawing, IB Visual Art 1 & 2,
Jonah Rabinowitz-Buchanan
B.M Classical Guitar Performance (Whalen Center for Music at Ithaca College), Instrumental Music Education Post-Baccalaureate Certificate (Towson University)
Jonah Rabinowitz-Buchanan teaches Guitar, Piano and Music Technology at Albert Einstein High School. Before coming to AEHS, Mr. Rabinowitz-Buchanan taught at Eastern Middle School teaching Guitar, Piano, Music Technology, co-teaching Orchestra, and pioneering one of only five Middle School Rock Band programs in Montgomery County. Jonah studied Classical Guitar performance at the Whalen Center for Music at Ithaca College and Instrumental Music Education at Towson University.
Courses: Guitar I & II, Music Technology, Piano I & II, TV Production
Tanya Thomson
BFA, painting (Queen's University) , BEd, visual arts and French (University of Ottawa) MAEd, Ed Leadership (George Washington University)
Tanya Thomson joined Albert Einstein as the Fine Arts Resource Teacher and VAPA Academy Head in 2022. Over the past 15 years Ms. Thomson has taught on and led the Visual and Performing Arts teams at an IB school in Washington, DC and served as a visual arts teacher and school leader in DCPS. Prior to moving to the DMV, she taught middle and high school French and visual arts in Atlanta, GA, Quito, Ecuador and Toronto, Canada. She is an advocate for all students and for access to high quality arts programs as an integral part of every student's K-12 experience. She is also a proud parent to three MCPS students.
Courses: Foundations of Art & Culture