Some people search for a career. Others know what they want to be from day one. Dr. Ann Wolcott, Saint Stephen’s Middle School Director, knew what she wanted to be since the second grade: a teacher.

Wolcott, who recently completed her doctorate, is a dedicated educator – one who continues to inspire students through her own leadership and continuous display of love of learning.

Wolcott said her parents and first grade teacher inspired her to pursue her doctorate.

The first of her family to attend college, she said her parents always believed education was one of the most important things you could have.

“If I was going to do it, I was going to do it as far as I could and receive the most advanced degree [possible] in the field that I love, which is education,” she said.

Wolcott went back to graduate school after her children had grown.

“When my daughter was finished with high school and went to college, that meant that both of my children had gone off to college. I decided to pursue my doctorate, since I already had my master’s degree,” Wolcott said. “I started go to school again and during those several years, I finished all of the course work.”

To earn her degree, Wolcott wrote a dissertation about how heads of independent school feel about their jobs.

Wolcott surveyed 343 heads of school around the country. The survey included data about how they spend their time and the responsibilities they fulfill.

“When I accumulated all of that [data], I put it in a formula to see for the majority if they were satisfied or dissatisfied with their role in leadership,” she said.

Due to her desire to continue working full time, Wolcott prolonged the dissertation process because she worked on the doctorate in the little time she had left after her long days at work.

Mrs. Priscilla Boyd, middle school administrative and health coordinator, said that Wolcott always performed her job 100% and remained so committed to her work that many colleagues did not even notice she was writing her dissertation.

While Wolcott was still in the process of finishing her Ph. d., Boyd remembered the day the seventh and eighth grade students were away on their field trips as a time Wolcott was able to escape to write.

“She took that one day off with Dr. Jan Pullen’s [Saint Stephen’s head of school] permission to stay home and write. [Dr. Wolcott] felt so guilty about [not coming to school even though] there was not a single student at present at school. She always wants to be here and make sure everything gets done to the best of her ability,” Boyd said.

“Since she’s gotten the doctorate, she’s been really relieved and a little taller symbolically. She’s proud of herself, but she’s a very modest person,” Boyd said.

Wolcott said she always loved to learn and admired people who had gone back to school and earned their doctorates.

“I thought that seemed like a lofty goal, and I just wanted to attain that myself.  That’s why I like being in school because I learn something [new] every day. We never stop learning,” she said.

Mr. J.B. Wolcott, her son and a Spanish teacher at Saint Stephen’s as well, said he is proud of his mother.

“It’s really gratifying to see her earn [her doctorate] because she deserves to have the credential as [much as] anyone else in the teaching profession. It was important for her to finish it, and so I’m glad she had that opportunity,” he said.

Although continuing her work and pursuing a doctorate simultaneously was challenging, Wolcott regretted not having gotten her doctorate earlier and advised that if you really want to do something, you should go for it.

“Whatever your dream is, whatever you set your mind to is what you should do. It’s a lot of hard work, but just pursue what you’re most interested in,” Wolcott said.