Beth Visna is an AP Psychology teacher at Freedom High School who has also previously taught Academic World II. After being a teacher for 18 years, she is currently in the midst of getting her masters degree in clinical mental health counseling.
“I started thinking about what would I do other than teaching and it opened the door of would this would be something I want to do,” Visna said. “I’ve taught since I was 22. It’s part of who I am, and the thought of not teaching is fairly overwhelming.”
She knew she wanted to continue working with adolescents just as she has been, but if she wanted to possibly work in a different setting then getting her masters would allow her to gain the skills needed to do so.
After considering what she was planning on doing with her masters and thinking about other logistics, the process of applying was relatively straightforward.
“So step one was trying to figure out what program,” Visna said. “There’s various counseling programs and social work programs. They do have similar outcomes, but it’s a very different curriculum.”
She is currently attending Hood College in Frederick taking as many classes as she can in person rather than online.When it came to balancing teaching and being a student herself, Visna expressed that it was overall, fine. Since she was able to focus on just AP Psychology this year rather than managing a social science class on top of that, the workload was not as bad as it could have been.
“I’ve never taken more than one class during the school year, because I do worry about biting off more than I can chew,” Visna said.
Being a teacher and a mother, Visna emphasizes having a schedule, doing work at work, her assignments during the weekends and readings at night.
“Be patient with yourself, be kind to yourself, because what you think you know, you don’t until you’re in the midst of it,” Visna said. “You are young, and you don’t need to know.”
