When your pottery mentor becomes the student

Margaret Wu just completed her pottery teaching certification. At seventy. While I’m over here still figuring out how to center clay without it flying off the wheel.

When your pottery mentor becomes the student

She showed up this afternoon with her official certificate and the biggest smile I’ve seen from her since I started taking lessons. Turns out she’s been secretly working toward this for months - taking evening classes, practicing techniques she hadn’t used in decades, basically becoming a student again after years of informal mentoring.

The pottery pieces she made for her final assessment are sitting on our coffee table right now

The pottery pieces that earned Margaret her teaching certification

. Perfect little bowls and cups that look like they came from a gallery, not someone who decided to get formally certified seven decades into life. Jake keeps walking by and shaking his head in amazement.

I asked her why now, why the official certification when she’s already taught half the potters in town informally. ‘Because,’ she said, ‘I want to make sure I’m teaching the right way. Not just the way I learned.’ Seventy years old and still learning. I’m taking notes.