Twelve-point font textbooks, late-night study sessions and caffeine-fueled essays: all things students are all too familiar with. But here at Pinewood, several teachers are experiencing the same thing as they pursue their master’s degrees.

Through the Graduate Study Reimbursement Program, Pinewood provides its faculty reimbursement of tuition costs for graduate studies.

In order to be eligible for reimbursement, there are several key requirements. The courses taken must be related to an individual’s teaching field, courses must be taken for credit and the program is only available to faculty who have completed at least two full years of employment at Pinewood.

Pinewood faculty members Olivia Bradley, Haley Hemm, Katie Linza, Carolyn Siegel, Katy Wells, Kyle Riches, Matt Stimson and Kim Wetzel have all taken advantage of the program for a master’s degree.

In Dec. 2023, English teacher and journalism advisor Wetzel completed her masters in Education in Curriculum and Instruction from University of San Diego.

“I think over the years I’ve become a pretty good teacher without a masters,” Wetzel said. “But I felt like it was an opportunity where I could learn a lot more than I had in the past and learn about best practices.”

However, balancing a masters while teaching full-time was not all smooth sailing.

“I pretty much didn’t have a social life,” Wetzel said. “I didn’t take lunch breaks; I would just work through lunch and then when I got home at night, I would often have to work for two or three hours. So I missed a lot of time with my family, but they were really supportive.”

These hardships of balancing life and schoolwork helped Wetzel understand the struggles and pressures of her students.

“Balancing helped me think about the pressure that all of you students are under,” Wetzel said. “I realize ‘Oh my gosh, they have to deal with this all the time,’ so it’s made me a better teacher thinking about that.”

Assistant Director of College Counseling Carolyn Siegel said she’s had a similar experience while working toward her masters in Education Leadership from Harvard University.

“Balancing is very hard,” Siegel said. “It means that I have to take advantage of my time during the day because I used to say, ‘Oh, if I don’t get something done I’ll do it at night,’ and now I can’t do that.”

Due to the pandemic, many colleges and universities started offering online courses that not only allowed for flexibility, but also allowed for more diversity.

“For me, what’s most impactful is the fact that there are these voices from across many different cultures,” Siegel said. “There’s always these moments where you see connections across all these spaces.”

Looking toward the future, Head of School Scott Riches hopes to continue this program.

“Pinewood’s Graduate Study Reimbursement Program has been a great benefit to attract and retain teachers,” Riches said. “It also benefits the students as the teachers gain a deeper knowledge and passion in their subject areas that they teach.”