By Mallory Brabrand

To some, teaching is a career. But to Billy Peebles, Collegiate’s Interim Head of School, teaching is a lifestyle, a philosophy, and a passion.

Peebles grew up in Lawrenceville, Virginia, a historically charming small town in southern Virginia, mere miles from North Carolina. In the earliest years of his life, Peebles attended his local public schools before transferring to a boarding school in the ninth grade.

Episcopal High School in Alexandria. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons user Paul B.

Peebles notes that Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, the next stop on his academic adventure, was “an all-boys boarding school with about 270 students” when he attended. Now, Episcopal has transformed into a “fully coeducational” private school, boasting upwards of 400 students. 

Peebles credits Episcopal with initially fueling his educational aspirations. Peebles says, “my experience there is what prompted and inspired my interest in teaching.” He adds that following his 1973 graduation, he “wrote my headmaster and all the faculty there who had been so wonderful to me to thank them and also to tell them that, because of that experience, I thought I wanted to teach.”

The Blair Arch at Princeton University in New Jersey, where Peebles went to college. Photo credit: Flickr user Ken Lund.

Following his four years in Alexandria, Peebles moved on to Princeton University. There, he “studied history and political science.” Between his first and second semesters of his junior year, Peebles took a year off to get hands-on experience in the field of education. Peebles says that this time working in a school as a teacher, but also as a coach and student advisor, “really confirmed my interest in teaching.” 

Next, Peebles returned to Princeton to finish out his final three semesters and earn his diploma. Then, the time finally came for Peebles to enter into a full-time career as a teacher.

Though Peebles studied history and political science in school, his intellectual passions are broader. He notes that his “main academic interests are American history, southern history, U.S. government, and theology.” Mirroring his interests, Peebles has taught classes in “American history, American studies, government, southern history, and religious studies,” over the course of his 40-year teaching career. 

Another of Peebles’ interests lies in his respect for Abraham Lincoln. He says that he has “loved getting to know [Lincoln], and well, reading about him, reading his words, reading his work,” and that Lincoln is a real inspiration for him. Peebles notes that he enjoys studying Lincoln’s time and presence in history, as well as the 1950s-1970s. He also loves keeping up with current events. 

Though this is Peebles’ first year at Collegiate, his family moved to Richmond in 2018. Before that, Peebles was the head of the Lovett School in Georgia for 15 years. Peebles comments that the Lovett School is a private school “very much like Collegiate,” in terms of size and general teaching practices. 

Peebles’ and his wife decided to move to Richmond four years ago largely because both of them have extensive family roots in the city. Peebles also says that they moved to Richmond in part because they have longtime friends here that they’ve known since college.  

It may come as a surprise to some, but this is actually Peebles’ third time holding the position of Interim Head at a school. His first interim assignment was at a school in Florida called Palm Beach Day Academy. Palm Beach Day Academy accepts students from as young as three up to 9th grade, so it has a much different feel than Collegiate. 

His second interim position was at the Powhatan School in Boyce, Virginia, which also happens to be “where I did my first headship, from 1985 to 1992,” Peebles adds. There, Peebles also “taught two sections of 8th grade American history,” where “some of the students I taught were children of people I had taught when I was up there 30 years ago.” He jokingly comments that it was “a little sobering, but fun.”

Though both of his prior interim positions were after his move to Richmond in 2018, he could not be in Richmond to hold those jobs. So, Peebles had to live in Florida and then Boyce for two years after his official move to Richmond. Now, for the first time in his semi-newfound career as an Interim Head, he is able to live at home. 

Peebles is thrilled to be our new Head of School, even if only for a short amount of time, but he notes that “the one disappointment about this year, which is nobody’s fault,” is that he’s “not having a chance to teach this year.” Luckily, a few of Collegiate’s generous teachers, including Michael Blair (‘10) and Asher Rolfe of the Middle School, and Brian Justice (‘85) of the Upper School, are going to let Peebles teach some lessons in their classes. Peebles calls this “visit teaching,” and he is excited to get back into classrooms, as this is his first head position that didn’t grant him the opportunity to teach. 

Peebles enjoys his role as our Head of School. He “love[s] the variety, the diversity of this work. No days like the same,” he says. In this position, he is granted much more behind the scenes access to Collegiate. “In a typical day, I’m meeting with students, I’m hearing speakers… I was off campus meeting with a fellow school leader about a mutual concern, [other administrators and I are] doing some long-term planning here at Collegiate. It’s fun to be a part of that.”

Though this is his first year working at Collegiate, Peebles has been familiar with the school for years. He has known every head since Malcolm Pitt and has four nieces and nephews who were Cougars themselves. He was also a trustee on the school’s board before accepting this interim position.

Peebles thinks that a “huge responsibility… of leaders is to be a source of hope,” and he wants students at Collegiate to remember him as being “approachable” as well as a “hope-filled and optimistic person and somebody who wants to try to be helpful.”

When asked what advice he’d give Collegiate students, Peebles says that he “would ask them to think carefully about the amazing opportunities here… [and] to embrace as many of those opportunities as possible. And to be willing to try different things.” He adds that we are “a big, strong community, and each of us, whatever the grade level, whatever the position here, whatever the responsibility, has a responsibility to do whatever we can to be a part of strengthening this community.”

Peebles’ hopes to travel with his wife and spend more time with his family following the conclusion of this year. He ended with this: “I am honored to be here, and look forward to this year with you, folks. I really do.”

Featured image photo credit: Vlastik Svab.