When Dr. Katherine Whitbeck got her start at Nacogdoches High School, her classroom looked a bit different than what you find today. There was an overhead projector, an honest-to-goodness chalkboard that was still in use… and no smartphones.
Fast forward 40 years and Whitbeck is preparing for retirement after helping shape and influence a generation of Nacogdoches students.
While the equipment and accessories of today’s room have changed – they now include, among other things, a large flatscreen along with computers and tablets – the foundation for measuring success remains unchanged: The beneficial connection that often takes place between student and teacher.
Whitbeck’s advice for a new teacher just starting out today? Technology will come and go – remember that chalkboard? – but it’s the students that teachers must remain solely focused upon.
“It really is about building relationships and meeting our students where they are and celebrating all their attributes,” she said. “And encouraging them to grow in their knowledge and in their experiences as a human being.”
Katherine Whitbeck moved to Nacogdoches when she was six-years-old, went to Raguet Elementary then spent grades 6 and 7 at Emeline Carpenter and went to eighth-grade at Thomas J. Rusk Junior High (later known as the Martin Building).
The Whitbecks came to Nacogdoches in 1966 when her father, Truett Parrish, began working as the Road Engineer for Nacogdoches County. Her mother, Patsy Parrish, accepted the position as librarian at TJR Junior High where she worked until 1980 when she moved to Emeline Carpenter Elementary before retiring following another 10 years as a librarian.
All four Parrish children graduated from NHS, Whitbeck in 1978, Patricia Parrish Ricks, 1971; Charles T. Parrish Jr., 1974; and Michael Parrish, 1982.
After graduation from NHS in 1978, Whitbeck went to Southern Methodist University, earning a BA in English in 1982 before ultimately finishing up at Stephen F. Austin State University where she obtained her Texas teaching certificate. Along the way she was a youth director at First United Methodist Church in Muskogee, Okla., before returning to settle in Nacogdoches.
Whitbeck did her stint as a student teacher in Mary Beth Hagood’s room at NHS. Whitbeck was then filling in as a substitute teacher before an opening in a math class at midterm allowed her to begin full time at the high school. She’s been there ever since.
Whitbeck met her husband, Steve, in Nacogdoches, and they married in 1987. Their children are all NHS graduates: Samantha Whitbeck graduated No. 6 in the Class of 2010 and is choir and theatre director for sixth through eighth grades at IL Texas K-8 in Keller near Fort Worth. Kendall Whitbeck graduated top of his class in 2015 and earned a degree in aerospace engineering from University of Texas at Austin.
While Whitbeck never left the high school, she’s seen her share of classrooms over the years. A lot of classrooms. In fact, she’s kept a log over the years that indicates what rooms and what subjects. It’s extensive, containing more than 15 moves and 30 subjects taught over the years.
In addition to math, Whitbeck taught English, speech and theater. At that time, the theater year included a fall show, Christmas show, one-act play and an end-of-year production that doubled as a children’s show.
“It was so much fun!” she said. “And between our annual December and April children’s plays, we introduced live theater to more than 4,000 school children every year.”
She assisted with the drill team. (At the same time Whitbeck is stepping down, another NHS teacher with 40 years experience is leaving too. Lisa Fuller, who has directed the Dragonettes for 25 years as part of a 41-year career, is retiring from the high school at the same time.)
Whitbeck has also taught communication applications – “That was a fun time in my career” – and worked with bilingual students. For years, she advised student council – same as Claudette Brown, one of her mentors.
As for retirement? Whitbeck is heavily involved at her church, First United Methodist, and she will continue as a mainstay with Lamp-Lite Theatre. And she and her husband will be travelling, including a cruise in August 2025 to Iceland and Greenland… instead of starting school as she has done the past 40 years.
“I’ll know then I’m retired,” Whitbeck said.