After 30 years of teaching, third-grade teacher Mrs. Kate Thorburn departs, but leaves behind a legacy of respect and honor. She has taught boys not just classroom topics, but life skills that will carry them for years to follow.
Mrs. Thorburn appreciates teaching third graders due to their unique place in development and the impact she has on the boys.
“Each year, I get more refreshed because you get a new group of gentlemen coming in that you know you want to mold. I think it’s so satisfying to see them when they come in as little squirrely second graders, and I know in my heart they have so much potential, but they just don’t know it yet,” Mrs. Thorburn said.
In order to help the boys achieve their hidden potential, Mrs. Thorburn pushes them further throughout the year.
“My goal is to raise the bar high and to have them reach it. I would never lower that bar, and they know that. I say at the beginning of the year, ‘I’m here, then I’m here, then I’m here,’ and you’re gonna reach it,” Mrs. Thorburn said, “and if you just keep telling them, they will believe in themselves.”
For her, this shared effort grows especially clear at year’s end.
“On that last day, when we’re doing the countdown out in the pod, they’re in tears, we’re in tears, and that’s how it should be at the end of the year,” Mrs. Thorburn said. “They’re so excited to go, but there’s still a little piece of them that wants to stay here.”
“The beauty of Haverford is you don’t just have them for a year. I tell them ‘you’re my boys now forever.’”
Mrs. Kate thorborn
Boys exit Mrs. Thorburn’s classroom with more than just classroom knowledge.
“I am big on respect and eye contact and handshaking and life skills that will hopefully take you far in life, because we all know in the end, that’s what’s important: being a good person. And that’s what I try to instill in these gentlemen,” Mrs. Thorburn said.
In her time teaching, she prioritizes the experience of her students over all else.
“Boys are number one, and everything else can change around it, but our goal is to make changes that make it better for you as a student. I think that’s really important,” Mrs. Thorburn said, “Not just getting the A’s, but equivalent to being a good person, and a respectful person, an empathetic person.”
Mrs. Thorburn’s approach stemmed from a visiting speaker.
“We had a speaker here once, and he said, ‘What’s the number one [most important aspect]?’ And I learned its safety, letting them know that it’s okay to make mistakes,” she said. “You might not get it the first or second time, but you’ll get it. And that’s something that kids need to know, especially nowadays where things are so fast and thrown at them, that it’s okay.”
Despite her classroom perfection, Mrs. Thorburn had never intended to begin a career in teaching. Her career started in retail, then pivoted to boarding school development upon her marriage. She then moved to Philadelphia and enrolled her children in Haverford’s lower school, where she started volunteering to meet people in the area.
“I would put Ellen on my back, and we would come volunteer every day because I didn’t know anyone. [Sam] repeated junior-K because he was young. And so we had another round, and I volunteered so much that they said, ‘Would you like to be an assistant in kindergarten?’ That’s how I started,” Mrs. Thorburn said. “And then they said, ‘We’d like you to teach. We’ll send you for your master’s.’ The ball just started rolling, and I started graduate school. Then I finished my master’s and took over, and I have been here ever since.”
Teaching at Haverford for so long has allowed Mrs. Thorburn to fully realize her impact on the boys and the school.
“The beauty of Haverford is you don’t just have them for a year. I tell them ‘you’re my boys now forever,’” Mrs. Thorburn said.
She hopes students will continue to embrace her values and high standards.
“I just hope the best for them. They know my values, and I hope I’ve instilled a lot of those values in them that will carry them through Haverford,” Mrs. Thorburn said. “I feel like hopefully I was a little piece of wherever they make their little navigation, and I wish them all the best. I’m proud of each one that comes through here and makes it through Mrs. Thorburn.”
“Hopefully, now and then, little things that I’ve taught will spark in people’s brains, and they’ll make the right choice.”
Mrs. Kate Thorborn
She hopes, too, that teachers will continue her legacy of foremost treating the boys with respect.
“Don’t ever feel like you’re above the boys. We’re all here together, and I’ve never looked at ‘I’m here, you’re here’ ever. I think that makes you build relationships and trust that you’re working as a team,” she said.
Mrs. Thorburn remains hopeful for the talent to come from future students.
“They can do so many amazing things that they don’t know they can do. Never leave anyone behind. Give everyone the opportunity to try new things, not just a few,” she said. “Everybody should have that opportunity, because they’re all different learners, and they all have their unique styles, but in the end they have so much to offer.”
She feels accomplished in her career and, just like the boys at the end of a year, feels bittersweet about moving on.
“I feel like I’m part of the furniture here after being here so long, but it’s gone fast. When the school year goes fast, I always say to the boys it’s because we’re busy and so successful, and I feel like this career has gone so fast because I’ve just loved it,” Mrs. Thorburn said.
Upon retiring, she plans to move to Maine, visit her grandchildren more, and experience life without being devoted to a schedule most of the time. But ultimately, she wishes that her impact on the boys will not be forgotten, and that the life skills she has committed to teaching them will guide them far.
“Hopefully, my legacy in some of them will live on,” Mrs. Thorburn said. “Hopefully, now and then, little things that I’ve taught will spark in people’s brains, and they’ll make the right choice.”
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