It's not often you hear someone say they love school, but for Sarah Bullwinkel, it is true. With her cat’s eye glasses and short wavy black hair, she greets a visitor at Wittenberg University with a big smile and glint in her eye. She’s on familiar territory. Bullwinkle, 38, graduated from Wittenberg in 2010 with an English degree. It was here, as an undergraduate, that she found her calling. It only took one class studying "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman to be inspired to become a professor. She was devoted to the idea that she could get paid to read and discuss books—and she wanted to do it at Wittenberg.
After graduating from Wittenberg, she went to Wright State to get her master's in English, a graduate teaching assistantship, and then began her teaching path. Life, as they say, got a little hectic. Shortly after graduating, she welcomed her first child. Not too long afterwards, she began her journey at the University of Cincinnati to get her Ph.D. She then welcomed her second child and started teaching English at Springfield's Nightingale Montessori (a type of school that guides a child’s natural instinct with hands-on learning.)
While working multiple jobs, raising her kids, and continuing her education, Bullwinkel had a great deal of stress. As she progressed, school and her personal life started to clash, and the burnout became a reality. How did she cope? She relied on lists and planners.
"Trying to hold so much information in your head is probably one of the things that make us feel really, really crazy."
Learning how to plan, write, and organize events helped her get through it. She's also a big fan of asking for help.
Bullwinkel serves on two local boards. One is her daughters’ dance studio board, where she also helps with costumes. The other is serving on the Clark County Public Library board. She even contributes to her brother’s local business, Scout’s Cafe. All of this is because Bullwinkel, a Kenton Ridge High School graduate, wants to contribute to making Springfield a better place as much as she can.
Coming back to Wittenberg doesn't quite feel real to Bullwinkel. "It's like a dream."
Now she hopes to bring some excitement and passion to an English classroom at Wittenberg by making relevant connections with students. As a professor she hopes to be respected like Professor Snape, but also be seen as a light-hearted cartoon character. One of her goals once officially becoming a Wittenberg team member is to create new and unique courses for the English Department. She wants to try something either with women writers like Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë, or with supernatural vibes, featuring monsters, ghosts, or witches; those are just a few of her ideas.
Either way, Bullwinkel continues to build her dream right here at Wittenberg University.
