Faculty
Headmaster
Eric Bradley
Eric Bradley has the privilege of serving as the Founding Headmaster of Chesterton Academy of Blessed Michael McGivney. Mr. Bradley earned his bachelor’s degree in theology, philosophy, and English from Boston College and his master’s degree in philosophy from Holy Apostles College and Seminary. He has spent seventeen years teaching multiple subjects in Catholic high schools, has received the Summa Scholar Commended Teacher Award numerous times, and has served as the theology department chair in a local Catholic high school for nine years.
A convert to the Catholic faith, Mr. Bradley is deeply devoted to Catholic education and evangelization, and is eager to help build a thriving Catholic, classical school in the New Haven area.
A lifelong Connecticut resident, he and his wife currently live in East Haven with their three sons, the oldest of whom plans to attend Chesterton in the fall as a member of the founding class.
Mr. Bradley is excited to be teaching theology, the queen of the sciences, along with ancient philosophy and ancient history this founding year.
Instructors
Blaine Billings | Full-time Faculty
Blaine Billings is honored to form part of the foundational faculty of the Chesterton Academy of Blessed Michael McGivney. A native of South Carolina, he earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics, computer science, and Spanish from the College of Charleston. From there, he went on to obtain his master's degree in linguistics at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa where he is soon to complete his doctorate in the same field. After researching diverse disciplines for more than a decade, being awarded various national and international grants and fellowships, and benefiting from collaborative, community-based fieldwork, he is excited to share with the next generation his passion for education and learning directed ultimately and most importantly at the pursuit of God.
Mr. Billings is a convert to Catholicism, having been called and convinced by the goodness, truth, and beauty of our ancient faith. Heartfully dedicated to living out the joy of the Holy Spirit, he looks forward to entering a position where the call to live the gospel life is as explicit as it is implicit. He along with his wife and baby boy are moving from the Carolinas where they have spent most of their life, and they are excited to become part of the flourishing New Haven community. Mr. Billings will have the honor of teaching this first year across disciplines as varied and wide-ranging as his interests in the subject areas of Euclidean geometry, astronomy, Latin, and ancient literature.
Melissa Arzamarski Kirk | Art Instructor
Melissa Arzamarski Kirk is a painter living and working in the New Haven area with her husband and young children, where they are parishioners at St. Mary’s Church of Bl. Michael McGivney Parish. As both a Catholic and an artist, Ms. Kirk is especially moved by the transcendentals and, as St. John Paul II wrote, beauty's ability to “stir a hidden nostalgia for God.”
She received her BFA in Drawing, with a minor in Painting, from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, where she was awarded the John Stobart Foundation Fellowship in painting. She went on to earn her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Tulsa.
Since graduating, Ms. Kirk’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including in New York City and South Korea. Most recently, she had her first museum presentation at the Ulsan Art Museum in Ulsan, South Korea.
Grounded in a dedication to classical methods and materials, a commitment to training the eye, and a deep engagement with the art historical canon - from antiquity to the present - Ms. Kirk is honored to serve on the founding faculty of Chesterton Academy.