Chad Pentler boasts an impressive three master’s degrees, multiple playwriting credits and a novel that’s been on the shelves at Barnes & Noble. Now, the veteran writer joins Trinity as its new English department chair.
Pentler comes to Trinity after eight years at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, where he taught AP English Language and Composition, English 10 Honors and Creative Writing. This year, Pentler is again teaching AP Language, as well as venturing into middle school with English 8 and advising Trinity’s literary magazine, Skylight. He looks forward to seeing what the department has to offer for all students.
“Trinity has an excellent reputation for being scholarly and [having] really strong students and everybody caring about learning,” Pentler said. “I felt at home on campus right away. It seems like students enjoy being students, which isn’t always the case.”
Pentler always suspected his career would be in education. While his early substitute teaching experience cemented his path as an educator, the seeds were planted in his childhood.
“My mom encouraged my sister and I to discuss movies,” Pentler said. “And so there was a lot of thinking … being able to discuss ideas out loud was really helpful [in] setting the stage to want to be a teacher.”
Pentler’s first few years out of college went in a different direction, though. As a professional screenwriter in Los Angeles, he penned several TV and film scripts. He also wrote a number of plays, including a comedy performed at one of his alma maters, Carnegie Mellon. But at the age of 30, Pentler decided to pursue a more stable occupation.
“It was a hard living,” Pentler said. “I tell my students, ‘You still need a profession’ … Not many writers can just write and make a living.”
Now a full-time teacher, Pentler emphasizes that his students must make time for their creative pursuits while putting their work first. For him, that meant setting aside three hours each weekend to write.
“Whatever you decide, you just have to really commit to it,” Pentler said. “You have to keep showing up at the same time. You can’t just write when you feel inspiration.”
This commitment paid off in January 2022, when Pentler published his first novel, “Orleans Parish.” The book follows the life of two brothers: a Los Angeles screenwriter with supernatural powers and a substitute teacher in New Orleans. Pentler has lived both of these lives — just without the magic.
“[My novel] came out while I was teaching,” Pentler said. “So then I had a book talk with a lot of students gathered, and it was fun teaching my creative writing class as a book was coming out because I would tell my students about the process.”
One of Pentler’s favorite aspects of writing is the art of humor. Whether he is teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” or watching “Saturday Night Live,” he always appreciates a good joke.
“I look forward to teaching my AP Lang students about humor,” Pentler said. “There’s a lot you can do with dialogue, with timing, to make a joke work. You can always use humor for the rest of your life. It’s a good thing to know about.”
Pentler is thrilled to be at Trinity for this new chapter of his life. In addition to sharing his love of comedy, he hopes to see every student find their voice.
“Being an English teacher is really about helping students not only to explore the world, but to become strong writers and to get them to see themselves as writers,” Pentler said. “And I feel like everybody should be able to write and feel comfortable with it.”
