After several years of teaching and creating a lasting impact on Moorestown Friends School, Science Department Chair and ninth and 10th grade advisor Trish Tate will be leaving the MFS community at the end of this year to take on a new role as Science Department Chair at Sacred Heart Greenwich in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she will “[work] in the Upper School to continue to expand their STEM program.”
Tate said that she is “really excited for the opportunity,” noting that “some of the things that [she] really loves about MFS are aligned with the school there too. They’re a very value-oriented type of school, and it seems like a really lovely community.”
At the same time, though, the decision has not been easy. “I’m feeling sad to leave, too,” Tate said. “It’s been special here. So there’s something bittersweet about the transition,” she continued.
One of her favorite memories is when she turned her College Prep (CP) Biology classroom into a full forensic investigation for the Science and Engineering Exposition (SEE).
“I had set up a murder scene, and I had students come in and collect data. They interviewed suspects like [Will] Miller and Noah [Rachlin]; they interviewed Matt [Lubicky] to try to find out what happened. It was a whole forensics unit. We studied fingerprinting and chemical analysis. It was super, super fun,” Tate explained.
She also pointed to a smaller, more personal moment that she will keep with her. She recalled a memory she had last year before winter break, where she and her co-worker and friend Clare MacKenzie “stayed after school and paper-decorated Mr. Rachlin’s office, Mr. Miller’s office, and Gina’s desk with wrapping paper.”
She said this meant a lot to her because “[MacKenzie] and I have worked closely as grade deans for the last few years.” She noted that a lot of their work is “digging in and doing the hard stuff like planning student-led conferences and doing the paperwork, but [decorating their rooms] was an opportunity for [them] to connect and have fun about the work that [they’ve] done together.”
MacKenzie reflected on a similar memory from the pair’s first summer working together as grade deans. She recalled sitting together at Barnes & Noble while preparing for the school year, and remembers Tate coming in “with a calendar and being so super organized and so excited about the work.” MacKenzie said that spending time planning together “made both of [them] feel really excited about the year.”
MacKenzie described Tate as “a colleague I really admire who I feel lucky to have gotten to know as a friend.”
She noted that Tate’s “openness and curiosity and excitement about a lot of different things” has made her someone who “empowers students to act that way too.”
Tate said she has really enjoyed running March Mammal Madness in recent years.
“I know it’s so silly, but I think it’s a fun, competitive way to start learning and getting excited about biology.”
Besides all of these fun activities, what stands out to many of Tate’s students is how she shows up for them both in and outside of the classroom.
Bodhi Vance-Harris ’26 said that Tate was one of the only teachers he felt completely comfortable going to with questions.
“When I had her last year, I was able to go into her classroom and ask her literally anything,” he said.
Vance-Harris recalled a time when he met with her after receiving a grade he didn’t understand, and they spent half an hour going through the rubric together and helping him figure out what he could have done better.
“I don’t think any other teachers really do that, which shows how much Ms. Tate cares about students actually understanding and enjoying what they are learning rather than just passing a class.”
Justin Lewis ’26 shared a similar sentiment.
“My favorite thing about Tate is her welcoming presence. Anytime I needed help, she was always there for me,” he said. “I took AP Biology with her, which was a very hard course, but she actually provided a space where I could go to her and just be honest about how I was feeling about the class, and she made it feel a lot less heavy by being there for me.”
The type of support Tate radiates is something she says she has learned from being a part of the MFS community, and is something she hopes to bring to Connecticut.
“I have learned from this community that kindness matters. I bring that with me in my parenting and in my professionalism as well,” she said. She emphasized that at MFS, kindness is not “quiet kindness.” Instead, she described it as something more active and intentional: both students and teachers “aren’t afraid to reach out and push back,” but to do so in a way “that is out of curiosity and understanding and wanting what’s best for yourself and for the community.”
She noted that both her students and colleagues “speak clearly and firmly about their perspective,” while still approaching conversations in an inclusive, respectful way, focused on “mov[ing] together forward” rather than resisting change.
Tate says she plans to carry this mindset into her next role.
Her colleagues have also felt her impact within the MFS community. Science teacher Jennifer Mosher described Tate as someone who provides structure and support.
“She brings a lot of skills that are comfortable and complementary to the rest of us,” Mosher said.
“She’s incredibly efficient and professional and creative and warm and focused and driven,” she continued, adding that Tate has helped the science department think more intentionally about how to use data to improve their programs while also being “really supportive of all of us as teachers and as human beings.”
As Tate prepares to leave MFS, she said she feels especially grateful for the people she has worked with, teachers and students alike.
“We have really, really incredible, skilled, talented, kind, caring teachers in our department who just value students’ opportunity to experience real science. I am grateful that I’ve gotten to work with our department in particular.”
She also noted that she is “grateful to have had all of you [students] for so many years.”
