By Sarah Greenblatt

May 2026

You may remember her for her love of significant figures and precision out to 2 decimal places, but now, Mrs. Wendy Matta is using her unit conversion skills and chemistry lab techniques in a new way — and on a much bigger scale. The 300 L (89 gallon) tanks are loaded into the basement of her new “home away from home” in White Oak, PA, at the future site of Zodiac Winery. This fall, she will embark on fermenting her first big batches of wine; however, good wine takes time. Some of you may actually turn 21 before some of the first batches are released.

Don’t worry, this story is not about wine (I am not sure how appropriate that would be). Instead, it is about a former teacher stepping out of her comfort zone to pursue a dream. Mrs. Matta has gone from teaching to learning something new everyday about business, accounting, color theory, branding, marketing, generative AI, demographic studies, mortgages, business loans, and so much more. It’s not just chemistry anymore. She has chosen a journey of risks and lessons and opportunities and struggles and then some because it makes her happy. She might not have planned on starting over, especially at a time when others are retiring, but she has found joy and — in terms I think fit her — exponential growth.

As someone who got to know Mrs. Matta, I have always thought of her as a methodical person who is interested in facts, but when I recently met with her, she talked of spiritual concepts like “divine timing” and “speaking things into existence.”  What sticks with me most, though, is that I have never seen her happier. Whether this was divine timing or not, Mrs. Matta chose a path that she knew would take her out of her comfort zone and might be a risk, and still choose it because she believed. 

Mrs. Matta felt that as a teacher she was always helping students build their legacy, and she found her legacy in her students. But, on this new journey of hers, she tells me that she finds it beautiful to be able to have her own “tangible legacy.” However, that does not mean she is not still teaching and affecting other people’s lives (as well as being taught by others). Everyday, she gets to meet and connect with new people (i.e. attorneys, accountants, plumbers, borough code enforcers, other small business owners, etc.). She even had the opportunity to work with some former and current TJ students.

On this journey of hers, one of her main goals is to hold value and see the potential in opportunities others may ignore. She wants to create a full-circle experience with her wine store where she can recycle and reuse old items, giving those items new purpose and life. She believes that worth can be found in many items like old juke boxes, wine corks, and tables from a restaurant that went out of business. As for these recycled tables, in collaboration with Mr. Betler’s and Mr. Salopek’s Commercial Design classes here at TJ, students sanded, stained, and cut designs into them, making it even more meaningful for Mrs. Matta. Specifically, senior Amira Culligan and junior Lucas Oechslein, whose designs were selected for prinitng on the tables, with Oechslein additionally designing a business card for the Zodiac Winery and earning a scholarship for his hard work.

If you want a sneak peek of a chemistry lab in action, or if you have an interest in sustainability projects like recycling and composting, Mrs. Matta will welcome you with open arms. Or, if you are ever in chemistry wondering who in the world uses titration, think of Mrs. Matta. Beyond chemistry, the lesson that Mrs. Matta teaches us — because she will always still have lessons to teach — is that we are never too old to be students in life. Her journey is not just about chemistry anymore…even if the occasional solution still requires a beaker.