Pacifica Stories

Linnea Scobey, a Pacifica alumna herself, has been teaching at Pacifica for four years as our Latin teacher. In addition to teaching Latin 1-4, she also instructs one section of New Testament. Mrs. Scobey was a member of Pacifica’s third graduating class in 2010, and began attending the school in its second year of existence with only 80 students total and no senior class! She took Latin “begrudgingly” when her plans to study Japanese at SMC fell through, but was quickly won over by the language. In fact, for Mrs. Scobey’s senior honor’s thesis, she wrote and defended a 40-page paper on why Latin should be taught as a spoken language (the requirement was 12 pages). 

After graduating from Pacifica, Mrs. Scobey moved to West Michigan to pursue a degree in Latin at Calvin College. At this point, she already knew that she wanted to be a Latin teacher. This is also where she met her husband Nic, who she’s been married to since 2015. Linnea lived in Michigan for a total of ten years, teaching middle school Latin part-time while also working at her church and at various non-profits. She then decided to pursue a Masters of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary before returning to Los Angeles for her dream job: teaching Latin at Pacifica!

One of Mrs. Scobey’s greatest takeaways from her time in Michigan, and even more recently in L.A., has been to value the practice of Sabbath. 

“I’ve always enjoyed my work and I love learning, so I have a tendency to get absorbed in work and studies without taking a break,” she said. “In the past ten years, I’ve really come to value the practice of Sabbath: setting aside one day each week to take a break from work and engage in restful and life-giving activities in order to connect with friend, family, and God, and to be refreshed for the work of the coming week.” 

Linnea’s faith has always been an important part of her life. Growing up, she was always very involved in the church and remembers having deep theological discussions with her parents around the dinner table. 

“I’ve encountered God in the classroom and under the open sky, in churches and conversations with friends, and perhaps most profoundly in seasons of loneliness and despair,” said Mrs. Scobey.

“Pacifica does a beautiful job of teaching students not what to think, but how to think.”

Her favorite part about working with high schoolers at Pacifica is because they’re constantly asking big questions about life and figuring out who they are, but they’re also still so silly. Mrs. Scobey gets to work with the same students year after year in the Latin program, so she gets to know them really well and develop lots of inside jokes. She says that she loves connecting with them and seeing them mature over their four years at Pacifica. After graduating from Pacifica in 2010, Linnea had developed a love of learning that continues to this day– this is what she wants for her own students as well.

“I hope students leave Pacifica with a joy and delight in learning that extends beyond the classroom,” she said. “I hope they will know themselves and embrace life with gratitude, wisdom, and grace.”

In her free time, Mrs. Scobey enjoys baking bread, writing poetry, making jewelry, and drawing. She and her husband love to travel, explore new restaurants, and walk their dogs in the mountains or the marina. She also loves a good cup of tea and spending time with extended family, especially her three nephews.