After pursuing her love of education both in and outside of the classroom, Linda Pierce took this week to step back in to the hallowed halls of Greenville High School to get another taste of teaching.

She retired from the Butler County School System after serving for 27 years as a biology teacher at GHS. Those years, combined with her time as an adjunct instructor at LBW Community College and her year of teaching at Highland Home School, gave her more than 30 years of experiences she still treasures to this day.

Pierce received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education and biology, then pursued a master’s degree and finally received her education specialist degree. By the time she had completed her first three degrees, Pierce only lacked 10 credit hours and a dissertation from completing her doctoral degree.

As it happens with many, Pierce became an educator and put her dreams of finishing her final degree on the backburner. After much consideration, Pierce decided to finish her lifelong ambition and began exploring different avenues to help her reach her doctorial goal.

“Life happens,” said Pierce. “But after I retired, it was something that I wanted to do and I wanted to finish.”

Pierce began seriously considering continuing her education last year after she was called on by close friends to help teach a home school biology class.

Once she had temporarily returned to teaching, she “caught the bug” and pursued her doctorate in secondary education and leadership.

Pierce has been asked many times since completing her final degree why she had even considered going back to school at this time in her life. Her response was a simple one, “I hate to leave things hanging. It was something I had started that I didn’t finish, now I’m going to hang it on the wall and look at it.”

Her experience at GHS this week was better than she ever could have imagined. She enjoyed being back in the scholastic atmosphere and remembered fondly her past teaching experiences. Pierce was impressed by the attitudes of the students and their willingness to learn, and she was very appreciative to GHS for welcoming her back with open arms.

“Some of them, their eyes are just lighting up, and they just can’t wait to ask you a question,” said Pierce. “You feel like, this is what teaching is all about. If you truly love teaching, you miss having that relationship with your students.”