Dr. William Matsuzaki, EdD in Teacher Development & Leadership | Dean of Curriculum, Director of Honors College at All Saints’ Episcopal School

In this episode, we discuss how William discovered his passion for teaching, the path that led him to pursue a doctoral degree in Teacher Development & Leadership, and his advice for entering the world of K-12 administration and the importance of relying on a support network to balance the demands of the job.

Hosted by Michael Wilkinson

To connect with William and to learn more about his story, visit his page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

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Michael Wilkinson

Hi everyone I'm Co-host Michael Wilkinson and this is the 100 Alumni Voices Podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we are joined by William Matsuzaki. He received his Doctor of Education in Teacher Development and Leadership from Johns Hopkins in 2013 and is now the head of Upper School at All Saints’ Episcopal School. Thank you. Welcome to the podcast.

William Matsuzaki

Thank you. Thank you. I'm honored to be here.

Michael Wilkinson

Sorry I butchered the name of the of the school there a little bit. I actually I looked into it a little bit, and I saw, so it's a college prep school, which is super interesting. I feel really the world of college admissions and college has changed quite a lot since I applied to college. So, I'm curious, as someone who is you know, a head in the school, what are the kind of skills that you focus on with your students keeping that college prep in mind? And are these skills at all different than maybe they would have been like a decade ago, or even you know, five years ago or something like that?

William Matsuzaki

I'm actually really glad you asked that. I think that's one of the things that we've really have worked really hard on to make sure that our students are, and I think there's when you think of a college preparatory school, you sort of think about how we prepare our students for college, but we try to think of it as how do we prepare students to think critically? How do they communicate well? How do they work with others who are who might be different? How do they become independent? And that is that goes beyond college, I believe so the we've we've come up with a portrait of a saint that we feel that encompasses a lot of the skills. And I think something that we keep going back to is we start with the three-year olds at All Saints Episcopal School and we we one of the first things that I say during professional development is we have to think of not just graduating our current seniors, but we have to think about what are the skills and how do we prepare students so that everything's aligned and students who will be graduating in 2035 or 6 or 7. And I think that's such a huge part of I think when I went to school, how different I think the mindset is and what we think of as preparing our students to be successful, how we how do we define success. I think especially after the pandemic and as we go through the, the after effects of the pandemic, I think the way success looks, looks slightly different. How do we care for the students? How do we care for the mental health of students and teachers? I think is a huge conversation now. It goes outside of just making sure that they have friends and all that. But how do we really care about each of the students in a very holistic way so that they have the safety net, but they also have the practice of becoming independent people who are in in different senses, however we define it, successful in their ways.

Michael Wilkinson

That makes a lot, so that makes a lot of sense. And I like this kind of individually structured approach as opposed to like looking at specifically what is being asked for and then trying to mold this person toward that specific route. But I will ask a little bit on that end of, you know, as someone who I'm sure, keeps an eye on, like what colleges and universities are requiring, how have how have those shifted over the years and maybe even made your job a little bit more difficult? I know, like the joke, at least when I was growing up was like the bar just keeps getting raised and raised and raised and it becomes harder and harder and harder, despite the costs skyrocketing and all these other issues with it.

William Matsuzaki

I think one big thing that and I've I've been lucky enough to have a wonderful college counseling office to help me be informed of the trends and understand that that's the some of the requirements, some of the things that they're, that the colleges are looking for might have shifted since some 20 some years ago when I applied to colleges, and I think one of the things that we land, some of the things that we try to communicate to the students that might have been different for a lot of our parents, is it might not rest on scores. It might not just rest on their GPA. It might rest on some of the holistic portions. It might rest on some of the things that show interest in that particular college and some of the things that will stand them out in a different sense. I think one of the parts that I battled with, especially going through public schools myself and being in a college preparatory school, is some of the, I guess, inequality with some of our students having with, you know, if parents are able to pay to get private tutoring with SATs or just the college application process. In addition to the services that we offer at our school, I think that's something that I ponder over and how equitable it is for students, not just within my school, but just across the nation thinking of just my own classmates when I was in high school and just within myself of how different the landscape is and how important it is to work with college counselors and being in close communication with it, and I'm lucky to have parents who are mostly engaged with our school and of course that comes with pluses and minuses with different aspects of it. But as a whole, I think that's a plus for a lot of schools where the parents are able to have those conversations with the college counselors in terms of how do I get into this this place? Or how do I have college counselors or teachers or, you know, division heads who are connected with certain colleges that will give that, that that relationship that sometime is crucial between the K-12 scene and colleges. And the other part of it that, and I'm in Texas, so football is one of the big sports at our school and how does that portion of, especially D1 sports recruitment and just just that having that activity and having that opportunity for some of our students play into college admission. And again, going back to the relationship that certain students in certain schools have with certain colleges, I think play a huge role from my observation.

Michael Wilkinson

Yeah, I definitely, I went to undergrad at Alabama, so I definitely understand the intense, intense football atmosphere for sure.

William Matsuzaki

Oh my gosh. Wow, you must have had quite an experience.

Michael Wilkinson

Yeah, it was interesting because they won the national championship my freshman year and then again my junior year and almost in my senior. It was a, it was a wild time, for sure. 

William Matsuzaki

Yes.

Michael Wilkinson

So, I'll pivot, I mean slightly here. So, you've been teaching or studying teaching in one form or another since 1997, which not to date myself, that was the year that I was born. Is there, is that something that you kind of going like before you went into professional studies, is that something that you've always known that you wanted to do? Or was there something that kind of drove you to wanting to teach and be in this kind of world of teaching?

William Matsuzaki

So, when I graduated high school, when I was in first year, second year of college, third year even most of 4th year, I was not expecting to go into teaching. I think after my second year there was a little bit of, you know, wow, this is of interest. I went to undergrad at Carleton College in Minnesota and after, during my sophomore year, I went to the Career Center for some sort of a summer, you know, job, because I think we all need jobs during summer to to supplement and get some experience and one of the things that the college, the Career Center, counselor sort pointed me to was a program. It's called Breakthrough Collaborative now, but it was called Summer Bridge and I was hired as one of the summer teaching people for the Summer Bridge Manchester program in Manchester, NH. Loved the experience, so that sort of was the first glimpse into teaching. I taught, I remember teaching Japanese or yeah, Japanese and physics and loved it. And then so.

Michael Wilkinson

Quite, quite different, quite different topics.

William Matsuzaki

Quite different topics. I was at that time I was pre-Med and taking Japanese as a requirement to fulfill the language requirement. And then I went back for the third year for my junior year after my junior year, I went back to Summer Bridge. Loved it again. I taught Japanese and math. Loved it. Still sort of looking at other fields and then my senior year, applying to different you know options. One of the options was Graduate School in Japanese language and got into a couple of places, and then I was talking to the director at that time for Summer Bridge and she she was like you should apply to some independent schools. I did not have a teaching certificate and she led me to a couple of search agencies and I was like, yeah, I think that sounds good. Let me apply to some teaching jobs. Let me apply to grad school. Let me apply to a couple of different places. I applied to, you know, some financial firms, so huge spread of different places. And when it came down to it, I was invited for an interview in Maryland at a school called Saint Paul's School. Loved it. It was a whole new world stepping foot on an Independent School as a possibility of becoming a full-time teacher, and that was one of the big moments when I said, I think I wanna go into teaching. So, I grew up in East Los Angeles. This the high school that I went to was the place that they had the if you're if you know the movie standard deliver. So that was the high school that I went to. So various differences, you know, in resources and everything and I was like wow. This is incredible in terms of resources, just the amount of teachers to students and that sort of. And I I started teaching middle school Japanese. I coached middle school tennis and cross country. Just became really engulfed in it. And then I remember my first year, I was like, I really want to go to grad school. The school was willing to really pay for a bulk of it. I went to one of the School of Education. At that time, it was named differently, but the the fairs to see what programs right for you, there was a professor, Dr. Santis, who really sort of gave me the scoop on her program of teacher technology for educators and loved the program, so went on that course and became interested in administration and Hopkins again had administration supervision graduate certificate. Loved it. I've had wonderful mentors to sort of guide me through it. And then Dr. Santis sort of said, are you interested in doing a doctorate program and that's when I started applying. Honored to be accepted to the Hopkins EdD program in ‘05 and then it sort of sunk in like I love teaching. I also love the administrative side of it, so that sort of sort of the the path to it. In 2015 I became a middle school head at Harford Day School in Bel Air, MD. Loved it. Was interested in seeking a bigger school, and that's how I wound up in Fort Worth, TX. I started here as the Dean of curriculum for early childhood to 12th grade and then went on and the director of the Tabert Honors College. This past year they asked me to step in as the upper school head and I love every aspect of it and I think in terms of what it means to be an educator and being able to direct, and have a say and all that in mouthing how this school and setting up those goals, it it, it is something that's so I guess inspiring for me. Something that really fills my cup each day where you know I get to be in with students, teachers, staff and it's just such a rewarding path and and I think being grounded on what it means to be a great teacher is at the top of my mind each day as I lead the upper school.

Michael Wilkinson

That's wonderful. So, you talked about like your love for the teaching and the admin side of it. You know, it's interesting, I've actually I've interviewed a couple of EdD folks now and they've all kind of ended up at a university and are teaching teachers how to teach. They're not doing as much of the admin stuff. Your situation is a little bit different because you were dean of curriculum and now you're head at a college prep school. And you know you're doing a lot more admin than you are like teaching per se. Did you feel like your background prepared you for those more administrative roles? And what parts did you kind of have to pick up along the way to be successful in those roles?

William Matsuzaki

Yeah, I think I think for me being a teacher sort of really helps and having that background on what, how do I—I think one of one of the head of Schools that I worked for, it must have been like 15-20 years ago, he, he said, if you make all your decisions based on what's right or what's good for the students, nobody can—they can argue—but you'll have something to stand on. You'll have something that every person, if they're in the right mindset, are striving for as well. And I think being a teacher, that's the mode that you have to be teaching. What's right for the students. What do they need at this time? What? How do they pivot so they reach every student in the or every class or every student in this class? I think if you have that right mindset and if you sort of expand it as an administrator, how do I make decisions so in the end it helps the students and in the mid-points they could be caring for the teachers, caring for the mental health of the teachers will lead to what the student experience is, and I think that sort of helps you know, make those tough decisions as you sort of step into the administrative world. And I think the connect I think for us, I think something that we're proud of at All Saints is we strive to make great connections and form wonderful relationships with the students who strive to really, you know, buy into the All Saints ideal. And I think if you really have that cornerstone of forming those relationships, it's really about the students at the center of all you do and it's, you know, all the other things have to lead into it. I think that's the part that really helps just with the workings of the school.

Michael Wilkinson

And you know, I with my role in the GRE, I actually work with admin quite a lot, and I think that kind of underlying principle of like, so long as you're doing what will be most beneficial for the students, like we can debate on the particulars, but like you know, that's gotta get done. But one thing I notice sometimes and I feel for them is that there are these things that they want to set out and either due to the politics of the university, the funding, so on and so forth, it's hard to accomplish those things, which then is this kind of heartbreaking thing if you have such wonderful initiatives but you hit so many roadblocks to actually implementing them. I imagine it's the same for you. So how do you kind of deal with maybe that heartbreak sometimes and you know, pivot in appropriate ways to kind of keep moving forward when initiatives get shot down, maybe or you know things like that?

William Matsuzaki

Yeah, I think I think that's one of the toughest parts of being an administrator where you know this is right for the students. You know, this is what the Community needs. And I think one of the best advice that I've gotten when I first started being an administrator is it's not the immediate wins, but it's the end goals that you reach eventually. And sometimes it's you can't divulge all of the information to the faculty on why a certain initiative that might be crystal clear that it's the best thing for the students will be. But hopefully people will see that we're going to take steps to get to the point so that the buy in and all those things are in place. The foundations are in place so that we can actually implement and not, not just have it as we're having this initiative in place.

Michael Wilkinson

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense and I think it's a very optimistic attitude to keep. So, I like that a lot. I'll do maybe another pivot which is you talked about, kind of this crazy scattershot approach getting into the EdD type program and how you ended up there, but once you left that program, what was the job hunting like then? Did you kind of have to do another scattershot or was it because of the connections and because of the field you were in is a little bit more focused and a little bit more straightforward on how you do job hunting once you actually left with your degree?

William Matsuzaki

Yeah. So, I graduated in 2013 and then started the full-time administrative job in 2015. I think one of the hard parts and it it ebbs and flows. I think right now as the way the education field is, there's a little bit more, there are more opportunities within if you're if one is interested in the vision, had jobs, principals, jobs, I think those are a little bit more available because of some of the challenges that are present. I think when I initially went through the process, I know just just being in contact with, you know, co-workers who are going through the same thing, it was hard to especially get the first, and it’s still is true right now, the first administrative job when you don't have the administrative experience, no matter what your degrees are in. So, I think that's where some of the things that that I sort of referenced in the beginning of how important communication, critical thinking skills, all those different pieces that we hope to help with the students here, that those skills that I think Hopkins does a great job teaching and having the students practice, I think those were the keys in helping me to get to the place where I was able to get a job in the administrative world within independent schools.

Michael Wilkinson

So, what, I guess what advice would you give to current students who, similar to you, might not have had that admin background, but maybe that's the thing they do want to get into once they—you know when you talk about some of the skills you developed and how they're helpful to you, but what are some of what's some piece of advice you’d maybe give to people who were you a little while ago?

William Matsuzaki

Yeah, I think one of the things that I often tell the students here, especially juniors and seniors, is and I think it plays, it has the same effect for people who are wanting to look from as teachers and then going to the administrative world is, you have to get out of your comfort zone and set up those networks and get a couple of mentors that will really tell you how it's like. And have those opportunities where you can practice the interviews. I think the part that you know, sometimes you have friends who are willing to do that. But I think it's different when you have mentors who are also in that field and are able to give you pretty blunt feedback for you to grow. I think friends are usually played the role of being supportive, of you can do this and I think you'll do great and and you're like, OK and then you sort of go in and you're like, oh, no, I didn't get this job. But I think if you have mentors who are like, uh, I think you need to dig deeper on those answers or it's not gonna you know the the the interviewers are not going to understand how you're going to process, for example, how you're going to think about discipline and how you're going to handle difficult conversations with parents or how you're going to address teachers who are not performing at a certain level or all those kind of things. I think mentors and setting up those networks. I think getting your name out, all those things are such an important are such important pieces. Going to conferences. I think getting practice. I think a lot times of I've often heard from just different people of especially when you're trying to transition it, it doesn't matter if you get a stipend, if you get extra pay for it, it's the experience that really matters and just volunteering for different aspects of the job at your current position, I think it's such a wonderful way of not just gaining that experience, but something to speak about when they ask about how do you handle XY and Z during certain job interviews. I think unless you have something to talk about, it's going to be a little bit harder for you to, you know, get that offer sometimes.

Michael Wilkinson

Yeah, I think that speaks a lot to kind of what you're talking about of what you try to instill in your students is like this well-rounded person with a lot of different experiences and willing the willingness to try a bunch of different things, whether they're paid or not paid. So, it's very it's I like I like that mentality and I know many of us strive to do that with what time we have and I think, you know, speaking of what time we have, so, I know how insane admin life is sometimes and I, as a PhD student, and a lot of people listening in often struggle with that kind of balance of time with work-life balance and things like that. I can only imagine what it's like in your position, but I'm sure work-life balance is something you do also have to consider. So, what has that been like for you given your higher admin roles throughout the past couple of years? How have you succeeded in where your work-life balance? Maybe where some areas that you can improve with your work life balance if you haven't succeeded as well, yeah?

William Matsuzaki

I think it's always hard. It's the the job and it, you know, it goes beyond just administrative jobs, but with a lot of jobs where your commitment to the job goes beyond just the scheduled time. And we all of us have heard, it's important to say no. It's not always easy to say no. It's not always to say, easy to say or is it even possible sometimes to say I'm going to leave at a certain time because it's part of your obligation. At times, I think what I found the most helpful is having a small group of friends or people who will hold you accountable in saying that today, you know, this is Tuesday is going to be the day for this week that we're going to stop at 5 and we're just gonna, you know, do something else. Or you know, you always have somebody, especially when it gets crazy where they'll say, you know, I'm turning your lights off. You're gonna have to go soon, you know. And I think having again somebody who's beyond the friend and who's willing to say, you know, this is it, this is it for your mental wellness and I'm sure you have, you know, people who actually had to, you know, go to the hospital because they weren't taking care of themselves. And and you know, I've had certainly a good amount of people who have been in that position. And I think if you can't take care of yourself, it becomes really hard to take care of others. And I think right now, you know whether I like it or not, I'm a role model for that part of it as well. And if they see me as not taking care of myself in terms of mental wellness or setting that positive attitude, I think that sort of trickles down to everybody in my building as well.

Michael Wilkinson

Yeah, what's interesting is I think you're the first person I've talked to when asking this kind of work-life balance question that actually went externally. I think most people say, you know, I do this thing and I do this thing. And I think you're the first I've heard say ohh, like, there's trusted people I have that can hold me to account. Which I think is a very important kind of other way of doing it. Because I know a lot of the times when we hear these work-life balance kind of pieces of advice and they're all things that we have to do it’s like, great, this is another thing I have to do and I'm so busy and now I'm too busy to even take care of myself, that having people to kind of rely on and unload that burden, I think it's really important and I think it's a really important piece of maintaining a healthy life that I don't hear too often. So, I'm glad that you can give that perspective as well, just because I haven't heard that a lot in the folks I've talked to. You're one of the few people that I've talked to that I've heard mention this kind of like unloading of the burden on you sometimes and have other people helping you out, which I think is extremely important to have those people in your life who can help kind of unload that burden and hold you to account in a lot of ways. So, we are running short on time, so I'll wrap it up with this. You’ve talked about some of the things that you really, you know find, you find a lot of passion in your job, things that you look forward to in kind of molding these young students and whatnot. So, what are some of the things, whether in your job or not in your job, that inspire you right now in what you do?

William Matsuzaki

I was thinking about this and I think that the quote that sort of that sort of sums up what inspires me in different ways is a quote by Michelle Obama. You need three friends in your life, one who's ahead of you to pave the way and help you through the messiness of—and I'm not getting the exact quote right—and then you need one friend to stand by you and then one friend for for yourself to lead the way and help pave the path for those who are behind you in coming in your path as well. And I think for me, as I think about the people who inspire me, the people who have paved the way sort of goes with when I first thought about well, being an administrator is something that's, that might come true for me. And that that person is, and I've actually emailed her recently, and she's the head of school at Merrin County Day School in in the Bay Area. And it's the first time that I saw Asian American head of school in my life and I was like, wow, this is a possibility and and I think, with that, I think that has just opened the path and opened my eyes to, you know, just the notion of having mentors. How important that is, and the the notion of sometimes that you need someone who might have similar, you know, identifiers as you to really make that happen and just people who you can see and having those mirrors and windows are all different parts of just making things you know, work for you in the end.

Michael Wilkinson

Wonderful. I think it's a very great summary to end it on. Thank you so so much for joining us today. It's been an absolute pleasure and we look forward to talking with you again.

William Matsuzaki

Awesome. Thank you very much. Have a great day.