Biology may be a high school graduation requirement, but to Kathleen Donahue, the subject is more than just a necessity: it is a passion. After 17 years of fostering enthusiasm for biology in her classroom, Donahue is set to retire at the end of the school year.
For Donahue, her favorite part about teaching at North has been the many students she gets to interact and form connections with.
“There’s so many kids that you connect with for different reasons, and it’s just really sweet to see them grow,” said Donahue. “They are interesting. They are full of life and full of potential, and it’s very fun to see that.”
Before coming to North, Donahue held a position as a biology teacher at other schools in the Chicagoland area.
“Prior to here, I was at Oak Park River Forest High School and at Highland Park High School,” said Donahue.
In addition to teaching biology, Donahue also serves as the club adviser for both Key Club and GSA, where she enjoys being able to support and connect with students.
“Key club has just been an extraordinary thing I’ve done there for 16 years here,” said Donahue. “We do volunteer work to help the children of the world, and I’ve just had the privileged honor to work with so many good kids who are doing volunteer work and helping out and making a difference in our community.”
Though the academic aspect of being a teacher is important, Donahue believes there is much more to her role than simply teaching students about biology.
“[My job is] to make sure that you are good with yourself, good with your academics, good with social [life], good with the sports and all the extra things that kids do,” said Donahue.
Following her retirement, Donahue hopes to spend more time on her many hobbies, including reading, biking, birding and traveling. She also aims to step back into one of her passions, prairie restoration, through volunteer work.
“[I want to] restore prairies and to work on trying to help,” said Donahue. “That’s a big ecological thing, is the restoration of our ecosystems. That’s what I did my graduate work in, and I’d like to go back to that.”
According to Donahue, even starting with something small can have a significant impact on the ecosystem.
“If I could get [my neighborhood] to be willing to plant in their public spaces some native plants, they will be sustainable for our ecosystem and provide pollinators and habitat and so forth,” said Donahue. “We’ve taken away so much habitat from all the stuff on the planet.”
After 17 years of watching North students learn and grow, Donahue’s advice to students is to be open to trying new things, even if they are not easy to begin with.
“I’ve watched so many kids struggle and avoid doing things because they didn’t feel like they could do it perfectly,” said Donahue. “Don’t be afraid to try new and fun, exciting things, too, because that’s the opportunity to meet new people.”
As Donahue reflects on her many years at North, she is sad to leave the school and its students but excited for the many opportunities in her future.
“I think the kids are some of the nicest kids that I’ve taught,” said Donahue. “I will miss all the life and excitement.”
