Kristin Pulsifer: educational hero

The Whitefish Pilot is presenting work from Whitefish High School students in Chris Schwaderer’s AP Language class and the Journalism Club. This week, junior Astir Pulsifer contributed a story about her mother. 

Having a teacher for a parent was always a sign of status in my elementary school. I remember how cool those kids looked, how it seemed like they had a behind the scenes pass to the school. My mother is a teacher, but she is no ordinary teacher. She is Kristen Pulsifer, who has been changing the lives of her students for 30 years, but where did it start? 

Pulsifer did all of her schooling in Colorado, from undergraduate to masters. She took different routes, one of them being a music major, then finally settled on being an English major, but none fit exactly what she was passionate about, until an opportunity that she couldn’t pass up surfaced. She learned of a middle school outdoor education program.  

“I never knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Pulsifer said. “That’s really where it all started for me.”  

From then on, she has had an insatiable drive to help.  

Upon moving to Montana in 2006 Pulsifer opened her tutoring business, the Whitefish Study Center, where she mostly helped kids with English. As she worked with struggling students, she noticed many of them struggled with dyslexia.  

“I have always been fascinated by the dyslexic brain,” she said. “This ‘disability’ is a beautiful thing that unlocks unique parts of the brain we just don’t understand.” 

With this idea, it was back to Colorado for Pulsifer, with an intensive master's program for dyslexia-focused tutoring.  

“I just wanted to help these kids,” she said. 

In my third-grade year, I didn’t see my mother for a month while she completed this program, but I never felt like she stranded me. I commended her then, and I commend her now, for her decision to add to her already bolstering educational portfolio, especially upon hearing her reasoning during our interview.  

“I think it is a misunderstood learning disability,” she explained. “When I left for this program, it was based on a need to help struggling students. Many of the students I worked closely with in Colorado who had dyslexia saw it as an asset not a hindrance, and I needed more people here to see it that way.”  

Her passion for helping these students learn to make what society perceived to be a weakness their biggest strength was inspiring to listen to and reminded me how lucky I was to grow up with her mindset in my world, especially since I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was young.  

Along with all of the ups of Pulsifer’s Colorado journey, it had its set of drawbacks.  

“Leaving was very hard. I remember calling my daughters every night and crying with them.” 

Balancing life and work was always hard for my mother. Often, she would come home past 8:30 p.m. but still have to pull out her computer and finish work.  

“I wanted to be committed to my students, but also to the needs of my family,” Pulsifer said. “That’s why I went back to the classroom.”  

In 2020, the Whitefish Study Center’s curtain was drawn.  

“While my business would’ve flourished, it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of a school community.”     

So, in the heat of the pandemic, my family went to help my mom set up her new classroom at Whitefish High School. She was now able to flourish in her niche and reach the hearts of so many more students.  

Maybe in elementary school, I didn’t have all the teacher-parent status, but I had a mother who was a dedicated educator regardless, from outdoor education, to tutoring, to classroom teaching. Kristen Pulsifer, my mother, is an educational hero.