Lifelong learning

Teachers Ashley Lock and Shruti Upadhyay get advanced degrees in leadership

by Laura Shareshian features staff

The routine rotation of schoolwork, extracurriculars and free time are rarely forgotten by high school students. Similarly, a teacher’s day doesn’t end after the 2:30 p.m. bell rings, nor after grading and lesson-planning. The obligations of everyday life carry on. Among these obligations are advanced degrees, a popular pursuit for high school teachers.

Starting in 2020, teachers Ashley Lock and Shruti Upadhyay began getting their doctorates. This year, the process is ending.

Recently, Lock has finished her capstone project, a cumulative research project with real-world applications. Her focus has been on the effectiveness of anti-racist instruction, something she was able to evaluate in her own classroom.

Though she has no intention of leaving teaching, the program has opened new opportunities and allowed Lock to explore leadership in professional development.

Upadhyay has spent the last 2.5 years balancing two workloads: teaching and taking classes.

“Just teaching English itself is a lot because you’re always giving feedback,” Upadhyay said. “You’re constantly grading, you’re constantly prepping all kinds of things to help kids learn. That wasn’t easy, but [for] the doctorate workload itself, I was taking 2-3 classes a semester where I had class 2-3 Saturdays out of the month. I would go all day Saturday [for] eight hours.”

With her new heavy workload, Upadhyay had to find new ways to manage her stressful and busy life.

“For me, managing the stress load would be, ironically, getting up at four in the morning to make sure I worked out,” Upadhyay said. “For me, it was just a way to release the tension.”

Juggling two conflicting workloads also required Upadhyay to make the most of her time.

“Another way I managed stress was to really compartmentalize [it],” Upadhyay said. “Oftentimes, I would just take one hour at a time, and focus on whatever I needed to do for that hour.”

Alongside the stress, the degree brought other challenges.

“I don’t think I realized what I was getting myself into,” Upadhyay said. “I think I did but I didn’t, if that makes sense. There were excessive amounts of hoops and unnecessary work.”

Lock’s experience was similar.

“You don’t really have the opportunity to tailor the program to your specific needs,” Lock said. “I had to take a school budgeting class. I’m never going to sit down and write a school budget.”

Despite the hefty and repetitive work, high school teachers continue to pursue higher education. Varying motivations for pursuing higher education can be seen in Lock and Upadhyay; despite shar- ing many similar experiences, their incentives differ.

“I was just thinking of what’s the next phase of what I wanted to do,” Upadhyay said. “Giving myself options is really what I thought of.”

In the far future, Upadhyay could see herself in an administrative role or at a university. Lock doesn’t plan to leave the classroom. In 2020, she promised to start her doctorate. However, she had another motivation.

“The reality for many school teachers is that we are paid based on our degree level,” Lock said. “Getting the doctorate degree does improve your condition in life. It’s just the unfortunate reality of the profession that we’ve chosen.”

For both teachers, the degrees will help leave a positive impact on their own lives and students alike.

“Kids are the future,” Upadhyay said. “To me, [teaching] isn’t just a job. It’s like a mission and purpose. So to go back and do the degree, it was also like: how can I impact more kids beyond the walls of my classroom?”

With their doctorates, Lock and Upadhyay have many new opportunities to explore.

“I’m excited to see what the future holds with the degree,” Lock said.

LEFT: Rick Dent reminisces on the beginning of his career at Ladue. He had worked in the district for 14 years. "I worked for a company called Plumber Supply until 2008," Dent said. "Then, there was the big housing crash in 2008. And then I started here in February of 2009."

ABOVE: Dent shows off the many keys on his keychain. Each key had access to facilities all over the school, indicative of the many responsibilities Dent had. “One is for what we call the principal’s closet, that’s where we keep all the supplies,” Dent said. (Photos by Sydney Collinger)