After spending her first post-college years teaching at Harvard-Westlake, upper school math teacher Ashley Satterthwaite plans to move to Sandy, Utah for at least the next few years.

Her decision to move was prompted by job opportunities for her husband as well as the chance to be near her family. Both Satterthwaite and her husband are originally from Utah and are glad that their one-year-old son will be closer to his grandparents.

Since she began working at Harvard-Westlake in 2006, Satterthwaite has taught mostly sophomores in Algebra II: The Fundementals and Introduction to Calculus Honors, though she did teach Precalculus: Trigonometry and Functions during her first year.

“Harvard-Westlake shaped what I desire my career to be, what kind of teacher I want to be. Our team environment here has really helped me learn from awesome, incredible teachers so I know what to aspire to as I move forward,” Satterthwaite said.

In Utah, Satterthwaite will continue to teach math to high school students at the Waterford School.

Inspired by her seventh grade English teacher with whom she is still in contact, Satterthwaite said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.

However, like her English teacher, Satterthwaite initially considered following a career path in government service and joining the FBI before she decided that teaching was what she wanted to do.

“I wanted to be like him but I learned how to blaze my own trail and set a new path for myself,” Satterthwaite said.

In addition to teaching math, Sattherwaite helped with the Track and Field program and was chair of the Character Education Committee.

Though Satterthwaite is excited about her move, she regrets having to lose some of the connections she’s made with students as well as with her close knit family of colleagues.

“It seems like every day I recognize something new that I’m going to miss,” Satterthwaite said.

Jake Bracken ’14 was in Satterthwaite’s Alegbra II: The Fundementals class last year and remembers it fondly.

“I always looked forward to [Satterthwaite’s] class… She created a good learning environment and all of us felt comfortable asking her questions or going to meet with her,” Bracken said.

“She is really good at relating to her students and you can tell that she really cares about each one of us.”