“It was always a calling,” Assistant Head of School and woodworking teacher Mr. Mark Thorburn said.
Now, after 32 years of service in art, administration, and education at the school, Mr. Thorburn has completed his calling.
Whether in the woodworking shop or helping escort students during drop-off time in the lower school, Mr. Thorburn has been a constant in Wilson Hall.
Raised in New England, teaching and woodworking were always in his life. As a result, Mr. Thorburn grew to love art and its many different applications.
“We were always renovating houses as a kid,” Mr. Thorburn said.
His father’s job as a high school principal required the family to move frequently; as a result, his family moved several times from New Hampshire to Maine.
Mr. Thorburn soon became enamored of geology and nature, leading him to pursue a bachelor’s degree in geology at Bates College.
“You get out in the great outdoors and get to travel to some pretty remote areas to do some geological mapping,” Mr. Thorburn said.
After graduating from Bates, he searched for work, but there was no clear path. One path that quickly presented itself was the oil industry, although this job would never be for him.
“People were looking for oil all over the world, and as I came out of college, those jobs dried up,” Mr. Thorburn said.
Without immediate work, Mr. Thorburn worked several jobs in both sales and natural resources, which, although enjoyable, still “really wasn’t who [he] was.”
Around the fall of 1985, Mr. Thorburn began working as a teacher at Hebron Academy, a private boarding school in the countryside of Maine. His stark shift in career focus was influenced by his childhood.
“I think because I grew up in a household of educators, I knew what an awesome lifestyle it was,” Mr. Thorburn said.
During this time, he also began revisiting his woodworking skills for some extra income.
“I’d either work in Portland or a little closer to where I lived, with various carpenters, and we would build houses from the foundation up,” Mr. Thorburn said.
A few years later, after meeting his wife in California, he sent what seemed to be an insignificant application to be the Dean of Students at The Haverford School. Following that, he moved to the East Coast, where he worked closely with the former Dean of Students to establish several key programs that support the student body, such as counseling and the ELC.
“That’s why I like my job so much, is that I get to work closely with kids and families and with faculty and staff.”
– Mr. Mark Thorburn
Eventually, Mr. Thorburn’s role would transition to what he is known for now: the Assistant Head of School.
“Once you develop programs, you’ve got to manage some of the folks that you put into them.”
This shift also meant taking on more public appearances and maintaining good relationships with everyone involved in a school. In these interactions, he found what he truly loved about being in education.
“I think that’s why I like my job so much, is that I get to work closely with kids and families and with faculty and staff,” Mr. Thorburn said.
A few years into his tenure at Haverford, former art department chair Mr. Christopher Fox presented a new job opportunity to Mr. Thorburn: teaching woodworking.
“It’s a great way to interact with kids and to help pass on [my passion for woodworking]to the next generation,” Mr. Thorburn said.
Mr. Thorburn hopes that students will follow a similar path to his and pursue several avenues of life with genuine curiosity.
“I think the idea of being curious about life, and about what you could be doing, I think that’s really important to keep that flame alive,” Mr. Thorburn said.
For him, this flame is his ability to create that links his pursuits together.
“I like to build, and I like to be able to sustain [educational] programs as well as structures and pieces of art.”