After 26 years at Kent School, Dr. Greene is retiring after this school year ends. As the only teacher in the Religion department— a “department of one,” as he puts it— he has taught generations of students here at Kent School.

What kept him here for so long? “The students,” he said. “How well they respond to classes that I designed. My Dreams class has been really popular. I’ve taught it almost every term, constantly reading and having new things come up on the horizon. It’s just been a fun group of people to share all of that as I’m learning and they’re learning.”

Being a department of one had its challenges. “A little frustrating,” Dr. Greene admitted. But it also gave him a lot of space to be more creative in his teaching. “I’m allowed to play around and see what works and what doesn’t work with students.” In recent years, he has worked towards being an “anti-stress teacher,” thinking carefully about course design to reduce pressure.

The most rewarding part of his career has been the relationships. “Some of my first group of softball players that played for me for four years, they’re now parents,” he said. He recalled visiting Thailand in 2022 and having dinner with alums from the classes of 2007, 2016, and 2018. 

Coaching softball for 17 seasons gave him many favorite memories. He remembered two players who would walk together to retrieve an overthrown ball during warm-ups. “That became a metaphor for, ‘I’ve got your back,’” he said. “Watching that development was really, really great.” 

Looking back at these 26 years, Dr. Greene has no regrets. He served as an assistant chaplain, ran peer counseling, worked in the health center, and designed three new classes in the last few years. “I feel like I did what I see you students doing,” he said. “I took full advantage of every way I could engage with the population.”

After his retirement, he plans to enjoy gentler mornings, write, do yoga, and possibly pursue grief counseling. He is also in the process of learning how to use YouTube to create engaging science videos about dreams. 

His advice for whoever takes over his course? “You have to know your audience. You have to be where your students are and understand how they see the world.”

For teachers and students moving forward, Dr. Greene hopes they continue to be compassionate and work hard. “The model for younger people is not what they should be thinking, but how to think about things,” he said. “That would be my go-to comment.”

Congratulations to Dr. Greene on his well-deserved retirement; we hope he knows that we will all miss him very much.