Under the lights of Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall, English teacher Elizabeth Wahl sings with the Stanford Symphonic Chorus, her voice lilting higher and higher to the rhythm of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem.” As the orchestra rises behind her, Dr. Wahl lets the music guide her, every note resounding against the room’s curved ivory sound panels.
Outside of teaching, Dr. Wahl has always had an affinity for performing arts and music. Born into a religious family with strong ties to music, she was part of her local church’s choir and continued singing through her childhood. After attending productions by groups like Peninsula Cantabile and taking singing lessons as an adult, Dr. Wahl decided to audition for the chorus.
“When you play an instrument, there are certain mechanical things you can do with your fingers and your bowing, but with your voice, it’s magical how it comes out,” Dr. Wahl said. “There are things you learn about how to modulate your voice and techniques. The most important thing is to relax, which, when you’re nervous, is the hardest thing to do. Usually, my eyeline doesn’t connect with any particular person. I just sing and pretend I’m in the shower, and then it’s fun.”
Dr. Wahl’s performances with the chorus now occur three times a year and are a culmination of months of practice and focus, the same attitude she hopes to instill in her students.
Combining her passion for performing arts with her teaching career, she strives to incorporate artistic and musical elements into lessons about texts she discusses in class, believing they elevate students’ experience and bridge multiple disciplines. For instance, she sang “If music be the food of love” during conversations about Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” to add a heightened emotional and dramatic effect to the reading.
However, Dr. Wahl was not always certain that she wanted to teach until she discovered a sense of purpose in education after leading one of Stanford University’s first queer studies courses. When she relocated to New Mexico, where she taught at the University of New Mexico, she found the classroom to be a place of comfort and intellectual growth.
“I loved having a class where I had students ranging from typical 18 to 20 year old college students to people who were coming back to get degrees or taking their degrees while holding full-time jobs,” Dr. Wahl said. “I made a particularly close friendship with a student from a local Native American community, and this opened up my eyes to inequities in education and what students had access to.”
Dr. Wahl bounced among institutions in the Bay Area upon her return three years later and ultimately arrived at Harker. While she previously taught at the collegiate level, Dr. Wahl had a soft spot for helping high school students find their voice through writing and experimentation.
“I love teenagers,” Dr. Wahl said. “It’s such an exciting time of life — you still have all that curiosity, you’re still trying so many different things. I know the world is just starting to open up for you, so I just want to be there and say, ‘Go fly.’”
Incorporating activities like vocabulary basketball — a vocabulary review game — and visual projects into her curriculum, Dr. Wahl encourages students to appreciate the act of learning while engaging with the material in interactive ways.
Junior Lana Tariq, whom Dr. Wahl taught as a sophomore in Honors English 2 and as a junior in Shakespeare — Comedies, Tragedies and Romances, appreciated how Dr. Wahl tried to connect with her students.
“She is such an incredible educator and really understands the material she’s teaching,” Lana said. “It always feels like she’s guiding us to come to conclusions that are bigger than what we’d be able to get to on our own. She sits down with us on our essays and goes over every line, every sentence, to make sure it was the best it could be. Some of the comments she’s given to me are going to stay with me forever.”
As she approaches retirement, Dr. Wahl looks forward to dedicating more time to the chorus and potentially returning to Harker as a drop-in writing tutor.
Spanish teacher Diana Moss, who has watched Dr. Wahl’s performances and shares her interest in language and literature, commented on her admirable qualities and her attitude toward teaching and singing.
“She has a joie de vivre, which is a love of life,” Moss said. “I know she’s retiring this year, but I can’t imagine her being bored ever because she has so many interests and things she loves, and so I suspect that she’ll probably find herself busier than when she was working. I just know that music keeps you young, and I get the feeling she’ll be always having music in her life.”
Beyond the classroom, Wahl hopes to leave a legacy characterized by the impact she has made on her students’ confidence and love of learning. She aspires for them to recognize that their purpose in life is not to please those around them but instead to focus on what they truly enjoy.
“I hope that students would take away that I was a teacher who really wanted them to succeed, that I really cared about them,” Dr. Wahl said. “I try very hard to connect with students. I want them to feel seen, I want them to feel like they can approach me to talk about things that maybe they don’t feel comfortable talking to other adults about.”