Hamp Kennedy

BS in History Secondary Education, Appalachian State University
MA in American History, Norwich University

Mr. Kennedy is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina. Growing up, he loved watching old Hollywood movies with his dad and listening to his grandfather tell stories from his World War II service. His love for history began then at an early age. Prior to college, he took a gap year and attended the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies, an independent branch of the Youth with a Mission (YWAM) organization, deepening his faith and learning the methods of historical inquiry.

He then went to Appalachian State University where his studies focused on New England slavery and environmental history in Appalachia. He also served as the vice president of the university's equestrian team, competing on horseback for several years and coming close to fulfilling his dream of being a cowboy. He worked at independent schools in New Hampshire and Virginia after completing his undergraduate work, winning several awards, before settling at Miller School. In 2022 he completed his MA in American History from Norwich University with a concentration in museum and archival studies, which culminated with the creation of an archive of numerous unpublished sources for President James Monroe’s estate. He was contracted in 2023 to conduct research for the United States Forest Service and the Oak Ridge Institute, using his historical skillset to answer ecological questions pertaining to crayfish introduction in western Montana. This research is now published in the peer-reviewed ecology journal WIREs Water. 

His curiosity and quest for knowledge continues and has led him far and wide, to an abandoned Soviet missile site in Cuba, to living with the Sherpa of the Himalayas and indigenous Veddas of Sri Lanka, and hundreds of miles down the Cape Fear River by canoe.