News

Keith Brennan ’23

Name: Keith Brennan 
College/University Attending: Case Western Reserve University 
Major/Area of Interest: Biomedical Engineering 
Years at Shipley: 4 
 
Activities: 
All School Vice President, Cross Country (Captain), STEM Club (Head), Track and Field, Global Village, Science Olympiad, DECA 
 
Who was your most influential teacher and why? 
Mrs. Willing. Her door was always open to talk and she always made each student feel like they could approach and communicate with her. 
 
What was your favorite class and why? 
Comparative Anatomy and Neuroscience. I felt like the effort correlated with the result and each assignment and project helped develop and contribute to the bigger picture of the year. 
 
What was your most memorable experience at Shipley? 
Growing as a person and leader on the cross country and track teams. I felt like I’ve 
learned how to deal with stressful situations and realize that being prepared and having 
people that support you alleviates that stress. 
 
What does Courage for the Deed; Grace for the Doing mean to you? 
It means having courage to stand up for what you believe in but carrying it out in a graceful, respectful, and honest way that is thoughtful of the consequences and how it will positively affect others. 
 
Complete this sentence: Shipley has prepared me to… 
Collaborate and share my ideas in spaces where everyone’s opinions matter and are heard. 
 
How has Shipley prepared you to be your best self and do your best work?  
I learned how to be confident in using my voice to communicate with teachers best. What I enjoyed most about my academic experience was that the classroom environment was very much a conversation, and I was able to ask questions and get help without judgment or appointments in almost any class. 
 
How has Shipley encouraged you to take risks? 
Shipley encouraged me to be a leader and be thoughtful in how I approach things. Time management and motivation were things I struggled with significantly more as a freshman and finding ways to keep myself interested was important. I do think I put a lot of pressure on myself and didn’t experience a lot of things I could have. There’s always a lot of pressure for the grade and the final number and how that defines you but I think that pressure actually made me less productive at times. I would isolate myself and feel the need to do work but not actually get anything accomplished and instead push everything off to the last moment not just because I could do it successfully and get by, but I was also the only way I could externally motivate myself. I made a lot of mistakes at Shipley and I feel like seeing at what times and circumstances 
I grew at Shipley were all experiences where I made myself uncomfortable and 
discovered how to deal with that. 
 
Please write a short reflection on your time at Shipley and what it has meant to you.  
Shipley has given me the opportunity to communicate and collaborate in a safe environment with trusted adults. Each year I took a course that I felt was really transformative or did a project that is still really meaningful to me and it is the teachers and faculty that created an environment and curriculum that made it possible. 
Back

News

814 Yarrow Street
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

Phone: 610-525-4300
Fax: 610-525-5082
The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.