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
Tricia Gooley - Rarick
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 1
MA & BS Dance Education (New York University) Administrative Certificate (Hood College)
Tricia Gooley-Rarick is currently the Academy Coordinator for Albert Einstein High School. She has been at AEHS since 2006 and is proud to have been the dance teacher, Fine Arts Resource Teacher and VAPA Academy Head. Prior to her time here, Tricia was on the faculty at the University of Virginia and New York City Public Schools. She is trained extensively in Modern dance, Jazz and choreography. She is currently continuing the development of dance programs for Montgomery County Public Schools, and has been involved by co-chairing the MCPS Dance Showcase, coordinating and choreographing for the MCPS All County Dance Ensemble and writing county dance curriculum. She is currently on the Executive Board of the Maryland Dance Education Association (MDEA) serving as secretary.
Dustine Hayes
MA teaching & BA General Sculpture Studies (Maryland Institute Collage of Art)
Dustine Hayes is one of the visual arts teachers at Albert Einstein High School, where she joined the art team in the spring of 2016. Mrs. Hayes has taught for over 20 years teaching visual arts 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. Mrs. Hayes was a featured artists spring 2017 at the Rockville Art Mansion.
Courses: Ceramics II & III, Foundations of Art, Studio Art I
Grace Hardiman
BS Art Education & BS Fine Arts (Towson University)
Grace Hardiman joins the staff in 2022 as the Digital Art and Photography teacher. Grace is widely trained in a variety of art forms such as painting, printmaking, drawing and 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. Grace 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. Grace is excited to start her work at Albert Einstein in hopes to inspire students to be creative thinkers and to use art to express their voice. She views digital art and photography as a fine art that is vastly important in today's world. Grace is also a proud graduate of the VAC program here at Albert Einstein.
Courses: Digital Art I, II & III, Photography I
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. Steph received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and 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. Steph 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
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/IB Dance, 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. She comes to us from 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. She is excited to bring her love of drawing and painting to her new school!
Courses: 2-D Studio Art 1,2, 3 & 4, IB Visual Art 1 & 2, AP 2-D, AP Drawing
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
Peter Smeallie
MMus (Georgia State University) BMEd (University of NC, Chapel Hill)
Mr. Smeallie has worked with the choral and theatre programs at Einstein since 1986. He also supervises Einstein S.T.A.G.E., the extracurricular drama program. He serves as Music Director at Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church. Mr. Smeallie is the cohost of a biweekly Musical Theatre Radio Show called Takoma Cabaret on WOWD 94.3. When not at Einstein or on the air, he enjoys Orioles Baseball and hanging out with his 2 dogs and 2 cats.
Courses: Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, IB Theatre I & II, Theatre I & II, Music Theory and AP Music Theory
Sergio Stryker
BFA Art & Photography (University of New Mexico)
Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Sergio has always possessed a profound passion for photography, focusing on capturing the narratives and essence of the communities he calls home. Presently based in the Washington, D.C. area, he is immersed in creating visual stories that reflect the region. For the past three years, Sergio has been imparting his expertise as an educator in Digital Art, Photography, and the Foundations of Art within Montgomery County Public Schools. He divides his time between Walter Johnson High School and Albert Einstein High School, nurturing the next generation of artistic talent while continuing to explore narratives of the communities around him through his photography.
Courses: Foundations of Art & Culture
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 ten years she taught on and led the Visual and Performing Arts teams at an IB school in Washington, DC and served as a teacher and school leader in DCPS. Prior to moving to the DMV, she taught in Atlanta, GA, Quito, Ecuador and Toronto, Canada. She loves painting, traveling, dancing, and spending time outdoors and with family.
Courses: Foundations of Art & Culture, 2-D Studio Art 1