Jane Rechtman, an insightful religions teacher, has been teaching in the Masters community for a total of   23 years. She initially worked at Masters when she was 24 years old and then stayed for 5 years. She left to pursue other endeavors but somehow, after 16 years away from the school, she found her way back. Now, after all the experiences she’s had here she has decided to retire.

“If I had to choose local TV production (her job at one point in time) or teaching, I would much rather be teaching,” Rechtman said. She also believes that teaching as the most rewarding things she has done.

It is no surprise why this religions teacher came back to the Masters campus once she shared her favorite things throughout the year like Halloween, graduation, or daily activities like morning meeting. “I love morning meetings. They often make me laugh or cry,” Rechtman said.

Rechtman said she has learned through questions students have asked whether it’s about the subject at hand or a broader life question. She also learned from her students outside of the classroom, through their resilience, their ability to get through tough situations. Her students remind her of her own journey when she was younger and had to get through difficult things as well.

“I will miss everything about Masters” Rechtman said, “my students, my colleagues, the beauty of the school’s campus, the dining hall food”. Rechtman also added a unique part that she will miss: Halloween at Masters. “The history and religions department does the best job at Halloween,” she said.

Although Rechtman was planning on retiring at the end of this year anyway, she left the school in mid-April this year due to cancer. Rechtman prefers the term “rewiring” instead of “retiring” because she still plans on doing something worthwhile. Self-worth and contributing in some way to a larger community was such a huge part of her teaching and now without teaching she is not sure what she will contribute to next. “I just have to figure out how to rewire myself,” Rechtman said.