The Beyer family joined the Pine Crest School community three years ago. After touring Pine Crest, twin brothers Alexander ’28 and Nikolaus ’28 told parents Anthony and Vanessa that this was the school for them. 

After being forced to end the spring 2020 athletic season abruptly, Pine Crest Athletics began planning and focusing on student health and wellness for what became an unprecedented 2020-21 school year. 

Coach Dave Smith may be the only faculty member at Pine Crest School who can say that he has worked under every School president and every Athletic Director in School history — including time spent on the original campus location on Broward Boulevard.

Coach Ruth Bresnahan, more affectionately known as “Coach B” around campus, has been a fixture of Pine Crest School athletics since 1988. However, her start at Pine Crest was actually in 1975 when she began working at Pine Crest Summer, known then as Pine Crest Day Camp.

A transformation of the Hudson Library is underway on Pine Crest School’s Fort Lauderdale campus. Used by students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, the modernized space will soon be as inspiring and engaging as the instruction that happens there. 

By: Courtney Klar ’22

By: Sabrina Kreiss ’21

Originally from Vineland, New Jersey, Pine Crest School Choral Director Mr. Michael Testa moved to Florida in 2001 to work with the Florida Grand Opera.

During that time, a former faculty member introduced him to Pine Crest where he became a member of the Fine Arts faculty in 2005. Now, almost 20 years later, Mr. Testa oversees and teaches chorus for students in the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools on Pine Crest’s Fort Lauderdale campus, in addition to Advanced Placement (AP) Music Theory.


After graduating from Rowan University with his bachelor of arts in music education, Mr. Testa began performing all over the United States as an opera singer.

Mr. Testa began graduate school at West Chester University shortly after earning his bachelor’s degree. There, he studied music performance. Feeling drawn to education, he began teaching extracurricular classes in music throughout his collegiate studies. He landed his first teaching job at a K-8 public school while studying for his master’s degree.

I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Testa to learn more about his career at Pine Crest and his passion for music and singing.

Kindergarten teacher Mrs. Barbara Becker has been a valued member of the Pine Crest community since her eldest child walked on campus more than 25 years ago. 

She served as a parents’ association volunteer for many years before joining the Fort Lauderdale campus Lower School faculty in January 2007 as Mrs. Patty Schimpf’s teacher II in pre-kindergarten. 

Alexis Peddy ’22 loves to read. As an avid reader, encouraging and helping children access books has been a longtime interest of hers.

Pine Crest School is pleased to announce the completion of renovations to the East Campus Athletic Complex, which includes Banks Field and the Elliot Family Track.

by Ivy Pisani, Innovation Instructor

In the early afternoon of January 6, 2021, students in Mrs. Trish Everett’s Post-Advanced Placement (AP) Political Science Seminar cast C-SPAN to the smartboard and began watching the joint session in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber. As lawmakers made their way through a count of Electoral College votes in alphabetical order by state, students were enthusiastic about experiencing their classroom lessons coming to life.