Kate Wood

I attribute my success to my mentor, Dr. Mary Duhart-Toppin, who really forged me in fire. There were days when I would call my mom crying and really struggling, but I would rise to the occasion every time. Looking back, even on the days I disagreed with her, she was right. I think it was my willingness to push through that helped. I see a lot of people stop short of that. I wouldn't agree with her because I didn't see the whole vision, but I would do it anyway. I think having good faith belief in the leaders that you trust is important. You don't have to agree with everything that they direct you to do, but see it through. And then, usually, you're like, oh, that's why you had me do that nonsense. I'm also just resilient. There have been so many times where I've just been like, I'm too stubborn to quit. Like, grad school, there was a semester that was so rough, and I told my husband I couldn't do two more years of this. He made a deal with me that I would do one more semester, and if it was just as miserable, I could quit and he wouldn't care about the money or the time spent. That one more semester wasn't as awful as the really awful semester. If I had quit right when things were the hardest, that would have become my story. But if you just push a little bit further, it lightens up. It's like you had to level up, it was like that was your boss fight. You gotta give yourself time to grow, to level up, and it can be really hard.

The best advice I’ve received is to treat milestones as manageable commitments and to keep pushing forward even in the hardest seasons. There were times in grad school when I wanted to quit, but by taking things one step at a time and persevering, I grew both professionally and personally.

My best advice is to be willing to learn while doing the job. I feel like a lot of people wait until they understand absolutely every component or absolutely every element, but a lot of this career, and I also feel like many careers, you learn by doing. So be willing to take a risk, and make mistakes, and do the best with the information you have at the moment, and just go for it. In education, there's so much wisdom and so many people all around you who want you to be successful, because we're talking about kids. So they're willing to help you recognize where you may have made a mistake and help you navigate it and fix it. But if you're waiting to absolutely understand everything, you're never gonna start. Everything worth doing is worth doing half-assed. I've worked a lot with AP and GT students, and a lot of them get so hung up on wanting to be perfect that they never start. It's still 0%, but 50% is better than nothing.

A major challenge in education is teacher retention, especially for early-career teachers who often quit within five years. Another challenge is navigating adult-learner resistance while working with colleagues and balancing it with adolescent learning needs. An exciting opportunity is expanding impact beyond district coaching through consulting and broader educational initiatives.

Resilience, perseverance, a commitment to learning by doing, trust in effective leadership, and a student-centered approach guide both my professional and personal life.