Her fingers run across the cover and pull the book open. This is the beginning of a new chapter in Eve Kulbieda’s life, one where she is the Head of Pinewood Upper Campus.
Kulbieda joined Pinewood last summer, bringing a wealth of educational knowledge to Pinewood. Her teaching journey started across the world in Tasmania, where she worked at a school with students in juvenile detention and foster care. After her stint in Tasmania, she moved to Germany and taught at a large international school. Then, she moved to the United States, journeying to Philadelphia and creating a sports academy that was home to prospective student athletes, many of whom went on to play professionally. Her journey then brought her to the Bay Area, where she held leadership positions at Menlo School and Castilleja School before finding a new home at Pinewood.
She said that so far, she likes it here.
“Pinewood is really a joyful and a generous, spirited community, even though there’s the same amount of teen pressure and stress,” Kulbieda said.
Although Kulbieda was initially drawn to Pinewood’s tight-knit community, she also appreciates the school’s core values and what they stood for.
“I’ve always cared deeply about character, education, and community building,” Kulbieda said.
One of Kulbieda’s favorite parts of her new role has been connecting with the faculty and staff.
“I love working with the faculty as closely as I get to—I think that’s super neat, and supporting them with everything that they need to be successful,”said Kulbieda.
One thing that shocked Kulbieda when she came to Pinewood was the level of academics.
“I knew that the school had such a great academic reputation, but my jaw almost hit the floor when I saw all the AP scores come through,” Kulbieda said.
Kulbieda’s biggest piece of advice for students is to keep a balance between the finite and infinite parts of their life. While the finite part consists of grades, getting a job, and income, the infinite part is about building one’s character and discovering new parts of who they are. She said that it is important to not just focus on school, but also focus on relationship building and self exploration.
“You’re this infinite human being that lives, if you will, on planet Earth,” Kulbieda said. “You are this energetic being that has this whole other side to who you are.”
So, in an attempt to stay true to the values she holds so important, like self exploration and memory building, Kulbieda fills her time with meaningful activities like running, cooking, and traveling.
She loves embracing her adventurous side through backpacking, exploring different landmarks, and choosing to disconnect from social media and technology whenever possible.
Although this is just the beginning of Kulbieda’s journey here at Pinewood, she already has many goals in mind, with the biggest being the continuous cultivation of a happy, positive, and collaborative environment.
“The dream is to keep a really beautiful culture for a really long time,” Kulbieda said.
