Veteran Takes Different Path to Teaching
Candy Marchsteiner
Language Arts Teacher
EPI Certificate, 2013
When Candy Marchsteiner was a student at Palm Beach State College, a particular learning exercise stood out for her; in fact, she uses it with her own students today.
“I’ll always remember one of my first classes where the professor broke up the textbook information and had small groups study and present the information to the class,” said Marchsteiner. “At first, I was taken aback by this strategy but soon realized how much more I learned from the experience. I try to incorporate this method at least once each year with my own students.”
Marchsteiner is now a sixth-grade language arts teacher at Woodlands Middle School in Lake Worth. She also teaches in the Palm Beach County School District’s only Cambridge Academy at Woodlands, which provides students with English, math and science content with an international perspective not found in traditional programs.
Marchsteiner spent four years in the U.S. Air Force, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in professional writing from the University of Maryland’s Asia Division. Her first career desire as a teenager, however, was to be a teacher.
Marchsteiner decided to pursue this dream and enrolled in PBSC’s Educator Preparation Institute, established for professionals who have completed a non-education bachelor’s degree and want to become Florida certified teachers. In 2013, she received her EPI certificate.
“I was thrilled to finish in the transition to teaching program at PBSC,” said Marchsteiner. “The instructors are experts in the field, and the classes are relevant, convenient, affordable and trustworthy. It is possible to work full time and complete classwork as well.”
Marchsteiner now enjoys a fulfilling career at Woodlands, where she also coaches Linguishtik and Propaganda academic games, volunteers as a sports and special events photographer for the school’s yearbook, and sponsors its Campus Life club.
She is not the only one in her family with a connection to Palm Beach State. Her husband, Dave, was a PBSC paramedic instructor and ran the medical simulation lab for 12 years. Her oldest daughter, Stephanie, graduated from both the EMT and paramedic programs and her youngest, Summer, is currently pursuing her associate degree.