Two Wellington Residents Join Faculty At Oxbridge Academy

The Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches not only welcomed new students on Sept. 4 — the first day of the school’s third school year — but also more than 20 new teachers and staff members, including two Wellington residents. The new teachers were selected through an extensive interview process and were drawn from around the world.

Kevin Colling brings more than 30 years of experience in education to his new role as English teacher at Oxbridge. He most recently served for six years as the headmaster at the King’s Academy in West Palm Beach. Prior to that, Colling was the assistant headmaster and day school principal at Westminster Schools of Augusta in Georgia. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Michael’s College in Vermont and a master’s degree in education from Regent University in Virginia Beach. He is also working toward a doctorate of education in organizational leadership from Grand Canyon University.

A college counselor with truly world-class experience, Steve Peifer was hired to serve as associate director of college counseling to help administer Oxbridge Academy’s personalized approach to guiding students and their parents through the college search and admissions process.

For the past decade, Peifer was the director of college guidance at Rift Valley Academy, an international boarding school in central Kenya that serves children of missionaries with an American-based curriculum. During his tenure, he saw the first students in the school’s 107-year history attend prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Stanford. His work as a college counselor and crusader for Kenyan children has earned him numerous awards, including the CNN Heroes Award for Championing Children in 2007, the Yale Counseling Award in 2007 and the NACAC Excellence in Education Award in 2010.

Peifer also authored a book titled Dream So Big, detailing the struggles of life for children in Kenya. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and earned UCLA’s Certificate in College Counseling.

Oxbridge Academy was founded by William I. Koch and opened in September 2011. The school’s mission is to provide a challenging and dynamic education in the classroom, laboratory, art studio and athletic fields that produces leaders through integration of meaningful student research, collaboration, creativity and life-changing service learning.

For more information about Oxbridge Academy, call (561) 972-9600 or visit www.oapb.org.

ABOVE: Kevin Colling and Steve Peifer.