Although she wrote in her seventh-grade time capsule that she wanted to become a social studies teacher, Sally Zimmerli tried to be anything but one upon growing up.

Zimmerli grew up in Harvard, Massachusetts, with her older sister, where she attended public school. From a young age, she had a strong passion for learning and loved socializing with others. As she grew older, Zimmerli worked at a sleepaway camp, and she loved the community connection and returned to it summer after summer. After high school, Zimmerli studied at Colby College in Maine, where she double majored in history and American studies alongside playing collegiate basketball. Upon graduating, she decided to become a medical assistant despite her strong passion for teaching and interacting with kids. “I had always, in the back of my head, wanted to teach,” she mentioned. “But I was thinking that I should try something new.” As time went on, however, Zimmerli found herself invested in the stories teachers shared at her office. It was then that she decided to go to graduate school and get her master's degree, determined to pursue teaching as she once planned.

Straight out of graduate school, Zimmerli took a job at a public high school. There, she later realized that the populous environment restricted her from deeply connecting with her students. Additionally, she felt the set curriculum prevented her from teaching the topics she was passionate about. Inspired by her touching community experience at sleepaway camp and the fact that both her husband and sister had gone to boarding school, Zimmerli decided to move to a boarding school in Vermont to reconnect with that feeling of community. “I enjoy those moments where you can inspire someone, or tell someone something, and it makes all these [connections],” she said. After years of teaching and coaching in Vermont, Zimmerli decided to move closer to family, and her Concord Academy journey began.

At CA, Zimmerli not only enhanced her passion for teaching and love of learning, but also taught her students about topics she was interested in. Upon arriving in the fall of 2000, Zimmerli coached the Girls Varsity Basketball team as an assistant coach and became head coach after three years. At CA, Zimmerli started her administrative career upon being appointed Director of Residential Life, a then newly created position. In addition, she started teaching three history classes. A few years later, after having her first child, Zimmerli decided to step back from her administrative position and focus on teaching history. However, she was soon asked to start tutoring at the Academic Support Center (ASC), where she continued to work, alongside her teaching, for seven years.

Zimmerli was given the opportunity to be the Dean of Students in 2016. Her main role became helping students who were struggling, from which she learned how to support the health of students. After six years in this position, she decided to step down to focus on teaching history and became a part of the Health and Wellness Department. “Sally is a wonderful teacher,” said Audrey Mason ’28. “She makes learning so exciting, she loves fostering different types of learning, not just textbook learning, and she makes history super creative!”

Zimmerli doesn’t plan to stop teaching after leaving CA and will join Falmouth Academy in Cape Cod in the fall of 2025. She’s spent countless summers on the Cape and is looking forward to integrating more into the community she has grown so fond of. Although the move from CA will be bittersweet, she expressed her enthusiasm about moving closer to the ocean. Additionally, Zimmerli is excited to get to know the year-rounders who live on the Cape whom she has rarely had a chance to meet. One fond memory Zimmerli leaves CA with is that of Red and Blue day; Zimmerli recalls of the annual tradition’s festivities, “There’s just sheer joy of CA students, just playing again like kids.”

What made CA so lucky to have Zimmerli was not just because she was a fervent teacher, but also because of her genuine passion to learn alongside her students. She mentioned that she was constantly discovering new bits of information that she didn’t know, inspiring her to make teaching her life. “You want to [teach] because it's going to teach your soul.”