Interview by Abernathy Cochran intern and University of Georgia junior, Mary Evelyn Brock
Meet Kirsty Montgomery! Kirsty is the new headmaster at Lakeview Academy. She is originally from London and moved to the United States at 29. She studied at Northwestern for her undergrad and received her masters and PhD. at the University of Chicago.
She said Lakeview Academy reminds her of school in Hampshire, England. Montgomery’s husband is Chris and he is a professional musician and also attended Northwestern. The couple has six children.
We want to thank Kirsty for spending time with us recently and telling us more about her life and love of Hall County.
Question: What inspired you or led you to your current career?
Answer: “I have always wanted to give back to my favorite age group; which is younger people. While I was teaching, I saw the passion teenagers have for learning and it was inspiring.”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Hall County, and what do you love there?
A: “Scott’s on the Square.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Hall County?
A: “Since June.”
Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: “My father worked for the London Underground (train system) and once a year we could go anywhere in Britain for a pound. Every year we would either go to Ireland or Scotland or someplace else. We went on one trip to the Outer Hebrides, which is one of the furthest parts of Scotland. Me and my brothers got so bored one day and made up a backwards language. But even now to this day, me and my brothers still talk to one another in that language.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “Nepal and the Himalayas. I have always been obsessed with mountain climbing, but not that I want to do it, but rather I want to sit at the bottom and watch.”
Q: What is the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?
A: “The first ‘Star Wars’ movie.”
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: “Be kind to one another and be thoughtful.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “I would love to visit England and see some places I have not and to see Ireland. I’d like to go to the Florida Keys, and go back to the Middle East.”
Q: What is your favorite music/ three bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A: “Radiohead, Green Day, The Police.”
Q: Choosing anyone (past or present and a non-relative), with whom would you love to have lunch? And where locally would you have this lunch?
A: “Thomas Malthus because I wrote my dissertation with him as the central figure. I’d love to ask him some questions that I was not able to answer in my dissertation.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about Hall County?
A: “Lake Lanier.”
Q: What is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
A: “I used to dance Brazilian Samba with costumes and design floats and dance in 4th of July parades and I have been the voice over for a very well-known house music artist in the U.S.”
Q: What three words mean “Home” to you?
A: “Family, Eating, Laughter.”
Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?
A: “Colin Firth or Kate Winslet or Cillian Murphy – who plays Thomas Shelby in ‘Peaky Blinders.’”
Q: Who could you have working with you (not working for you)?
A: “I would have loved to work alongside my mother but not work for her or the other way around. I could have learned so much from her.”
