
Known by her students as “Ms. Swagner,” Katelyn Wagner has been teaching economics at PHS for three years. Before becoming a teacher, Wagner worked in marketing for a year before realizing she wanted to pursue an alternative route in the business field. Since she enjoyed marketing’s interactive and communicative aspects, she was drawn to teaching. Wagner’s own experience in education also inspired her to become a teacher. As she reflected on her past teachers, she realized she never had an educator who had deeply impacted her. This empowered Wagner’s aspiration to not only give students a memorable learning experience but also to be a supportive figure throughout high school.

“Maybe I can be a teacher that ... students remember and help them figure out what they want to do,” said Wagner. “I love teaching, [it’s] something new every day, and I get to talk to everybody. [It’s] a lot better than sitting in a cubicle.”

Wagner’s first teaching job was in the two courses Law and Honors Personal Finance at South Brunswick High School and later on, at both South and North Middletown High School. With backgrounds in finance, economics, and law, Wagner enjoys exploring the intersections of these three topics with her students.

“I like economics, because it is so closely related [to] law,” said Wagner. “If you understand economics, how the economy works, and making policies, [you can] use those policies to make things more fair [and] more equitable.”

Bringing her experiences to PHS, Wagner currently teaches AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, and the Advanced Contemporary Economics Issues elective. She assumed the role of economics teacher in the middle of the year after the departure of Lisa Bergman. With a short period of adjustment, Wagner described taking over Bergman’s position as one which came with challenges.

“It was hard. I mean, she was such a great teacher. To ... take over for somebody like that was intimidating,” said Wagner. “Also, never having taught economics, at least at the AP level before, was also difficult. But I mean, you kind of buckle down and you do the best you possibly can.”

After Wagner finally found a routine for class, the pandemic moved students to remote learning, and she had to adapt her lesson plans again. Many of the skills necessary in AP economics including graphing and creating data tables were a main concern with virtual learning. However, through platforms such as Kahoot, online whiteboards, and breakout rooms, Wagner gave her students the chance to collaboratively practice these skills in class.

“It’s definitely a lot of tweaking and adjusting and like, ‘How do I do this online?’ and ‘How do I make this something interesting online?’” said Wagner. “But we really made it work.”

When PHS returned to in-person learning again, Wagner was excited to incorporate engaging and interactive activities into her lessons again. She hopes that past students look back on her course fondly and that current students look forward to class.

“I try to make [class] challenging, but I don’t want it to be a subject or a course that students are afraid [of ] or intimidated by. I love economics, and I want students to love economics,” said Wagner. “I want to be more approachable and have a more hands-on [learning experience] and less intimidating environment.”

Some examples of these activities include scenario cards for classifying different types of unemployment in AP Macroeconomics, the paper chain demonstration to show the law of diminishing marginal returns in AP Microeconomics, and the egg drop project to simulate inequality and contemporary issues for Advanced Contemporary Economics Issues.

Zeynep Uzun ’22, a student in Advanced Contemporary Economics Issues, chose to continue studying economics as a result of her newfound interests after taking AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics. She attributes part of her interest to Wagner’s teaching style and encouraging learning environment. “

She’s very friendly and approachable. She’ll pop in debates or conversations on an article and give us a pointer, like a new definition or something. And I think that’s really helpful,” Uzun said.

Towards the end of the year, Wagner also teaches topics such as filling out tax forms and student loans. She hopes that her students will take away skills beyond the curriculum.

“Obviously, I’m thrilled when students are interested in economics, but even if they’re not, if they could use [these skills] in their everyday life, I’m happy,” Wagner said.

In addition to being a teacher, Wagner is also the advisor for the National Economics Challenge club. During the pandemic, Wagner and the club held virtual mock competitions to prepare. Despite 2020 being their first year competing, the members of the club’s top team placed 12th in the state. It was a memorable and interesting experience for the students.

“Having students that are interested in economics and want to practice economics is awesome. [NEC] is a lot more fun and laid back approach to economics, versus in class, when we’re on a deadline,” Wagner said.

Outside of the classroom, Wagner loves spending time with her friends and family at the beach in Spring Lake, baking on weekends, and doing yoga. She also enjoys listening to live music and sharing her music with her classes through Pandora playlists.

At the end of the day, Wagner hopes that she can help students in some way, whether it’s related to economics or their personal lives.

“If I can help somebody out and make their [lives] a little bit better, or have something that they remember and will help them either in college or elsewhere, that’s my hope,” said Wagner. “It’s the smaller things that really matter.”

PHS Profile: Katelyn Wagner shares her love for economics

The Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) and Pride Unity Leadership Sisterhood Esteem (PULSE) programs at PHS aim to provide safe spaces for minorities. Advised by Coordinator of Student and Family Services Bethany Siddiqu, the MSAN program is open to all students and focuses on eliminating the opportunity and achievement gaps at PHS. The PULSE program, also advised by Siddiqu, has a similar goal. As an all-female program, PULSE strives to share knowledge of self, academics, and social concerns with young women at PHS.

“The goals are to create a community within the school for our students of color,” said Siddiqu. “These groups are opportunities to help them achieve their goals and to make a lasting impact.”

The PULSE and MSAN programs have collectively hosted a multitude of events at the high school to provide assistance to PHS students.

“We’re doing a canned food drive for Thanksgiving, [and] a coat drive for those in the school district that may not have winter wear,” said Siddiqu. “We’re also initiating a buddy system. [The] MSAN and PULSE students that are bilingual [are] going to be partnering with [English language learners] to help them throughout the school ... The school is naturally confusing, but imagine not knowing English or being new to this country.”

Beyond receiving guidance, members of MSAN and PULSE gain both communication and leadership skills.

“The MSAN and PULSE groups have been able to successfully [cultivate] leaders within the school that can help inform particularly [the] school administration, as well as the Board of Education,” Siddiqu said.

Joycelyn Brobbey ’22, President of the PULSE and MSAN programs, believes she has benefited greatly from these clubs during her time at PHS.

“They’ve made me more knowledgeable on certain issues that I wasn’t knowledgeable on before,” said Brobbey. “They’ve [also] just made me feel more confident ... [and] more open ... I get to be with some really cool people, and I get to do something that’s important to me.”


photo: [credit name="Laura Liu"]
As Vice President of both programs, Kyara Torres-Olivares ’22 ultimately wants to give minority students a comfortable space to talk with and get advice from their peers. After helping several English language learners with their schedules, Torres-Olivares, who is bilingual, came up with the idea for the partner system that is currently in the works.

“I thought to myself ... ‘Why don’t we already have a program that has a buddy system for these students, since they really don’t have any other help?’ Being the VP of MSAN was really helpful because I was able to [identify] a problem that I saw in the school and connect it to the students,” said Torres-Olivares. “I’ve been at the high school for four years, and I think I’ve been able to help other students in the school and connect to them and make them feel like this school is a safe space.”

Similar to other programs at PHS, COVID-19 has impacted both PULSE and MSAN. Despite that, Siddiqu hopes that attendance in the programs will soon return back to the pre-pandemic levels.

“When I took over the program, there weren’t that many students involved. I think that was mainly because of COVID-19. It was just hard to engage people through Zoom,” Siddiqu said. “And now that we’re in person, I think there’s more energy and excitement around joining the group.”

Torres-Olivares noted that as pandemic restrictions lift this year, the groups hope to take trips outside of school.

“We are also looking to take field trips and have mentors on them ... for any kind of job field. We’ll bring in people that work in those jobs and figure out how [students] can connect to different careers that they’re looking to go into,” Torres-Olivares said.

While both programs might be looking to grow, neither is new at PHS. With the MSAN nearing its tenth year and PULSE approaching its twentieth, these programs have been helping students at PHS for many years now. In fact, Siddiqu was once a member of the PULSE program herself.

“As a young student, I was a part of it. And now to be able to be the advisor for it, I feel like it’s just come full circle,” said Siddiqu. “I also feel a responsibility to keep the essence of PULSE, to keep it a group where girls feel empowered and supportive. And I’m hoping that that will inspire other young females when they go to college or wherever they go beyond high school.”

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