Kacey Michelsen (‘99) first moved to WNA at 10 years old when his parents (Distinguished Faculty Honorees Ken and Merridee Michelsen) came to campus as the school’s Admissions Director and Director of The Chesapeake Learning Center respectively. Ken and Merridee were also notable Football Coach and Theatre Director at WNA for over a decade. After going to Rising Sun from 5th grade through Middle School, he attended WNA for four years where he was a student, athlete on the Football, Wrestling, Baseball, and Lacrosse teams, actor in many musicals, art honors society member, and the winner of the poetry award his Senior year.

Kacey returned to WNA in 2021 with great enthusiasm to continue living out what he was taught on this campus – namely to be a “Renaissance Man” with a passion for many things and to live a life of learning and adventure. He will be teaching, helping with alumni and community relations, assisting with Lacrosse, and building both a Boys and Girls Wrestling program.

Kacey brings experience working in Independent Schools that began in 2005 at Christchurch School in Virginia after he completed his Masters in Curriculum Development and Instructional Design. He then served as ESL Director and Head Wrestling Coach at Blue Ridge School – also in Virginia- before going to Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School in Atlanta, Georgia where he worked for the following 12 years. After a year in Colorado, at Fountain Valley School, the opportunity to come home was presented to him and he happily jumped at it because it was a career goal of his to return to this campus.

He has taught many humanities-based subjects, coached multiple sports, served as a History Department Chair, been a Dorm Director, started and maintained a Model United Nations Program, and is very proud of his work as the Representative to Round Square International – a consortium of over 200 Schools in 57 countries worldwide – in which he was able to bring students to conferences in South Africa, India, and Canada as well as coordinate trips to Northern Ireland, Colombia, South Korea, and Peru.

While at HIES he was instrumental in establishing one of the largest Wrestling tournaments in the country – The Prep Slam – which hosts the second most Independent Schools in one tournament in the country behind National Preps. He was also a coach to 9 individual State Champions, 8 top 3 placing teams, and a Georgia State 1A Duals State Championship Team.

“It has been a dream of mine to return to this campus and have the opportunity to give back to WNA even just a portion of what it provided to me. I’m honored to be in this beautiful place, with exactly the kinds of students that attend WNA, cherishing the memories that I made here, and hoping to continue my parents legacy as well as those of all my friends to whom this place means so much…NIHIL SINE LABORE”.