WHEELING — Liz Hofreuter acknowledges she wasn’t certain what path she was taking next after she retired as head of school at Wheeling Country Day School in June 2024.

Then she went walking with a friend, started a podcast and is now the new executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS).

In this position, Hofreuter works 127 schools with a combined 48,000 students across Pennsylvania, as well as in Delaware — and perhaps some in New Jersey and West Virginia in the future, she reported.

As “independent” schools, these private schools are not affiliated with any church, association or organization — much like Wheeling Country Day School and The Linsly School, she explained.

Hofreuter had 34 years of experience in education when she retired, and had been head of school at WCDS for 16 years.

As she contemplated her next move, she went walking with friend and fellow educator Barb Buchwach. They talked while walking about what was most important to them — leadership, learning differences and motherhood — and Hofreuter knew she wanted to tell Buchwach’s story.

The experience led Hofreuter to do 49 episodes of the podcast “Walk With Me,” in which she interviews while walking many people who inspired her during her career. The episodes blend storytelling with authentic dialogue.

The success and attention Hofretuter received as a result of the podcasts helped lead her to her new job.

“I’ve had a year to look at the ways my life has twisted and turned,” she said. “It really brought me back to some simple lessons.

“Like the most important thing we can do is love kids around us, learn something new, and be as authentically ourselves as possible. Everything else gets us in trouble a bit.”

She explained the epiphany led her to look into working with groups of schools, and finding the job at PAIS.

But Hofreuter does miss being at Wheeling Country Day School.

“There’s nothing better than having an office above the preschool,” she said. “On a bad day, you can just go down and sit with 3-year-olds and see the world through beautiful new eyes.”

A friend once told Hofreuter while at WCDS that as head of school, “you’re in the dirt and you’re in the sky every single day.”

“In the work I do now, I don’t ever get to be in the dirt,” she said. “I get to be on the playground sometimes, but the children in the schools I visit don’t know me in the way I was able to interact with children at Country Day. I do miss that.

“They really inspired me. Those children at Country Day really focus on learning and joy. Our campus was always a place of joy. That is what I want to inspire other heads of school to do, and make sure that’s what they’re paying attention to.”

Hofreuter relishes the 34 years of experience in education she obtained in West Virginia, and she noted she is “getting to enjoy the same industry from the perspective in Pennsylvania.”

She often wonders why things at WCDS and in her PAIS schools are done differently, despite the fact WCDS is only nine miles from the Pennsylvania border.

“I hope to bring some crossover,” Hofreuter explained. “What we do right in West Virginia really should have a stronger impact outside of our state lines – even if I am working in Pennsylvania.”

Educators in West Virginia often think things are better in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, she continued.

“There are so many different districts in Pennsylvania, and in West Virginia things are more general – there are counties,” Hofreuter said.

The county public school districts in West Virginia don’t provide many services to the private and independent schools, though Hofretuer noted she did receive help with speech therapy.

“In Pennsylvania, there is a lot more support that comes from the intermediate units, even for independent schools,” she said.

Hofretuer explained she has always been a student, and that she wants to educate herself more while working in Pennsylvania.

“I’ve always been a learner – even in an industry that I’ve been in for 35 years,” she added.