Cathy DeLorey has taught at Bainbridge High School since 1992 and is planning to retire in June, bringing to a close 50 years of teaching.

DeLorey started teaching informally at age 6 in her Mountain View, CA garage with two neighbors who served as principal and vice principal, respectively. In high school, finding her coursework too easy, she asked her parents if she could travel around Europe her senior year.

“I think, honestly, both my parents and the school were sick of me, like, ‘Yes, go,’ because I was questioning everything. I’d go to the school board, and I did research on grades, and I said, ‘I think we should eliminate grades and have written evaluations.’ I was just constantly a thorn in the side of everybody,” she said. “I was sometimes correcting teachers’ grammar, and that probably didn’t go over too well.”

She graduated from high school in Ludington, MI in 1973 and enrolled that summer at Grand Valley State University, Thomas Jefferson College. She earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a teaching credential two years later in 1975.

“I was, like, the only math-science person there at all. So, it was a great education, though, because it was great in the arts and humanities,” she said.

After making a list of pros and cons and comparing Rio de Janeiro, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Seattle, she moved to the Northwest and earned a master’s in education with a secondary school curriculum emphasis in mathematics from the University of Washington in 1985.

“I ended up here, and strangely, I had taught for three years, and I thought, ‘Boy, I’m tired, because teaching is really tiring, and even when you’re young, it’s a pretty intense job.’ So I thought, ‘I think I just need a break from teaching. I’m going to do something else.’ So when I moved to Seattle, I hadn’t applied for teaching jobs, and about one month into the school year, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I really miss teaching.’ So I became a teacher’s aide.”

Before teaching at BHS, DeLorey taught at schools in Grand Rapids, MI, Seattle, Shoreline, Everett and summer courses at Bellevue College and Seattle Pacific University.

“I’ve taught college. I’ve taught little kids. But teenagers are just this perfect blend of still being kids, but really, they’re like adults too, and they can think about really hard, complicated things, which, for me, is fun to teach. But they’re still kids. They’re full of a lot of life, a lot of joy, a lot of tears when they’re upset, and I mean, they have a lot of emotions. They’re fun to be around,” she said.

DeLorey said teaching math and high school are her favorites. “It’s fun, especially teaching math, because so many people are intimidated by it. So then, if you have a way to explain it that makes sense, they’re pretty grateful,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I never got that before.’ So it’s fun to try to take something that seems complicated and make it simple for people. For me, that’s really fun.”

DeLorey said a full-time teacher could work between 65 and 70 hours a week. Teachers often juggle multiple responsibilities, including teaching students, communicating with parents, grading tests and homework, lesson planning and attending meetings. “It’s such a balancing job for me to be analytical but also be asked to be creative,” she said.

DeLorey said she starts her day at 5:30 a.m. and arrives at school by 7:30 a.m. before students arrive around 8 a.m. She said teachers often have to find time either before or after school to juggle extra responsibilities. DeLorey said being a teacher isn’t for the faint of heart. She encourages prospective teachers to be willing to master a specific subject or content area. She also encourages prospective teachers to go into the classroom and experience teaching to get a feel for it.

“Rarely do you have a summer off, especially when you’re a beginning teacher, because you have all this credentialing you have to keep taking courses. And also, when you’re a beginning teacher, you don’t make enough money, so you have to have a full-time job in the summer,” she said.

DeLorey said she loves the students and families on BI. She and her family moved here when their son was in kindergarten, in part because of the quality of the public schools. “A lot of them come from families that are very well-read, highly educated, with a lot of support for education, but they’re still thinking about the rest of the world,” she said.

One former student created a drive to donate bicycles to kids in Africa, DeLorey said. “I want to have fun in my job. And I do, every day,” she said.

As DeLorey is preparing for retirement, she wants to stay connected to former students. She said they have told her that Instagram is the best way to stay in touch. DeLorey estimates that over her career, she’s taught around 7,000 students.

In order to remember their names, she asked students to give her a week and then quiz her. “I’ve always had a pretty good memory. And if a student’s name was brought up, I would remember where they had sat in my class. I remembered their handwriting. I remembered what their style of learning was,” she said.

When it came time to name her children, she wanted to pick one that she had positive associations with. “I ended up with a Jennifer and a Kevin. Those were good names for me because I had all good associations with a Jennifer and a Kevin,” she said.

DeLorey said she gave careful consideration about retiring. “How did I pick this year to retire? Well, because I’m a math nerd. I’m turning 70, and it will be the 50th year that I’ve taught—those are kind of significant numbers,” she said.

“And I’m not really ready to retire. I’m like, I’m still really enjoying every day. And I’m like, how do I make this decision? But wouldn’t it be lame to retire at year 52 or 51? So I figured the next most significant number would be 75 years. But I’d be 95 then. So my husband was like, ‘Retire now. Don’t wait until you’re 95 if it’s going to be either now or 95,’” she said.

DeLorey said she plans to travel with her husband in a recently purchased electric VW bus.

“I have been privileged to be a part of your children’s lives. It’s been such an honor to be allowed to discover your children’s hearts, aspirations, fears, joys, abilities and mathematical minds. Being a teacher at Bainbridge High School has allowed me to have such a full and satisfying life. Thank you! Goodbye and stay in touch,” she wrote.

Cathy DeLorey shares former students’ artwork at Bainbridge High School.

DeLorey courtesy photos Cathy DeLorey’s last first day of school.

Cathy DeLorey in 1975, her first year of teaching.