This year, WT welcomes two new teachers, Ms. Nesbitt and Ms. Kovacic, both of whom bring an exciting new wealth of knowledge and interests to their subject areas and the school community as a whole.

Ms. Nesbitt, who teaches biology, claims her fascination for this particular science comes from its ability to “explain how the world works”, especially on a molecular level. For nearly her entire life, she knew she wanted to be a biologist. After receiving a master’s degree in biology from Duquesne, she left Duquesne to pursue teaching; she then earned a master’s in teaching from Pitt. As part of this teaching program, she taught at Allderdice for one year before becoming a part of the WT community.

If she could change one thing about the world, Ms. Nesbitt professes that she would make people take time to look at the facts of a situation and understand them before making biased decisions. This, of course, is the beauty of science. And, Ms. Nesbitt’s love of science resonates in her life outside of school as well. She enjoys being outdoors in nature, particularly while rock climbing, which is one of her favorite activities! Her advice for students wishing to pursue science as a career is to start early, try to get into a lab to do research, and look into summer programs.

Ms. Kovacic, a new addition to the English department, on the other hand, is not so new to WT after all. Her children, Ramsey ‘11 and Rosalie ‘13, were lifers of WT, and she admits that it’s a strange feeling to be walking these halls as a teacher, not a parent. Having sent her children here, she says, only gives her a greater appreciation of our school.

Before joining the WT faculty, Ms. Kovacic taught both middle school and high school students at CAPA for fifteen years. In fact, she was one of the founding members of the creative writing program there. She has also previously taught undergraduates at CMU and Pitt, and graduate students at Chatham and Carlow, and even adult classes in Chautauqua, New York. Coming to WT, however, has allowed her to transition “from a writing teacher to an English teacher”, which she is quite excited about. The role of an English teacher, of course, includes teaching literature as well as writing, and Ms. Kovacic emphasizes the power and importance of reading. One of her favorite books is Middlemarch by George Eliot, for it portrays very contemporary values, especially a spotlight on women’s rights, for a 19th century novel.

Ms. Kovacic herself has published poetry (her most recent collection of poetry is called House of Women), short stories, and personal essays. Aside from writing and teaching, she is an avid traveler, French-speaker, and cyclist.

Let’s all join in welcoming our two newest additions to the faculty, and wish them luck as they begin their first year at WT.