If you have ever sat in the Learning Center struggling through a math problem, there is a good chance Ms. Sked has been the one sitting next to you saying, “Wait, try it like this,” until it finally clicks. A lot of students know her from those moments. What they might not know is that Ms. Sked was once sitting in these same spaces as a Stuart student herself.
Before she was helping students, Ms. Sked was behind the scenes on stage crew for Stuart musicals. That is also where she met her husband, who was performing in them. Years later, the two came back to campus to get married in Cor Unum. “It was during the Easter season, and the campus is beautiful that time of year. It just worked out perfectly,” she said.
Even though she now works with math every day, Ms. Sked does not see herself the way many students might expect. “I am not a mathematician,” she said. “I am a teacher who happens to like math.” In college, she actually double majored in mathematics and religious studies, something most students would probably never guess. Her thesis focused on stigmata, exploring how deeply people can believe in something and how that belief can shape their experiences.
In the Learning Center, Ms. Sked sees a pattern in how students approach math. “Students often say they are just not good at it,” she said. “They think they cannot do it before they even try.” For her, the most important part of her job is helping students move past that mindset and start to believe in themselves.
But her work is not just about academics. It is also about understanding students as people. That perspective has been shaped in part by her daughter, Bridget. “She has taught me to look at the world with fresh eyes,” Ms. Sked said. “Kids see everything so purely.” That sense of curiosity and openness is something she tries to bring into the way she works with students every day.
Outside of school, Ms. Sked’s life is just as hands-on and creative. She loves arts and crafts, from tie-dyeing Pi Day shirts for the math department to planning to build a full backyard fort for her daughter. At home, things are a little more chaotic thanks to her guinea pig, Milk. Between constant movement, noise, and mess, it is safe to say the experience has been memorable.
Looking back, Ms. Sked says the biggest thing she would tell her younger self is simple. “Be kinder to yourself and be okay with plans changing,” she said. She originally imagined a completely different path for her life, but over time, she found something that feels more meaningful.
Now, whether she is helping a student finally understand a concept or just sitting with them as they figure things out, Ms. Sked is doing more than teaching math. She is building confidence. And in a place where it is easy to feel like you are “just not good” at something, that can make all the difference.
