”My mom was an educator, so the idea of teaching was always a gentle itch in the back of my mind.”
A product of South Carolina public schools, 8th grade English language arts teacher Kathleen Herbst first entertained the idea of following that itch during her senior year in college when she did a service year with AmeriCorps. While with the organization, she worked at a local community center with immigrant and refugee youth, coordinating their tutoring program.
“As I tutored children of all ages, I found myself exhausted at the end of the day, yet I knew with every storybook ready, every math equation solved, that my day held a deep purpose and fulfillment,” She recalls.
By her second year with AmeriCorps, the itch to teach had become impossible to ignore. Kathleen enrolled in North Carolina State University’s online Master of Arts in Teaching program while continuing to work full-time.
Once she stepped into the classroom, the reality of teaching hit her rd. She found herself overwhelmed—navigating the emotions and impulses of thirty 13- and 14-year-olds, adapting to the rhythms of school life, and putting in 12-hour days that often spilled into weekends.
“I felt like I was drowning,” she admits.
It was around that time that she attended her first Guilford County Association of Educators (GCAE) meeting, which made her feel like she was being seen for the first time.
“I remember sitting with a table of members I didn’t know and telling them I was a first-year middle school teacher,” she says. “Their expressions immediately shifted to empathy and understanding. When I expressed that the job felt impossible, they didn’t dismiss me.”
Kathleen walked away from that meeting with a newfound sense of community—and a clearer understanding of the challenges facing North Carolina educators.
“My goal in that moment was to remember what it felt like to be seen in that first year, to hold onto the notion that it shouldn’t be this hard.”
Now an active member of the union, Kathleen is part of a growing movement fighting for the resources and respect North Carolina’s students and educators deserve. Her advocacy began with an unexpected moment on the first day of school.
“One of my veteran teacher coworkers came into my classroom and said, ‘Herbst, how do I sign up for the union?’” she says. “It was not a conversation I was expecting to have.”
Since then, Kathleen has helped build union momentum at her school. During a membership drive in November, she and her team recruited over a dozen new members, reigniting commitment among returning educators and welcoming fresh faces to the cause.
Quote byKathleen Herbst , 8th Grade English Language Teacher
Kathleen talks openly with her colleagues about what it means to be in the union—the value it brings, and the challenges too. One of the main challenges for recruitment, she hears, is about dues. She equates it as the same as having health or dental insurance.
“I hope I don’t need it, but if I have an abscess in my tooth, I’m going to be grateful I opted in,” she says. “The other way I view dues is as in an investment in the future of our schools.”
She credits her success in organizing a strong team at her school and her own persistence.
“I firmly believe that it’s vital work if we want to have well-funded, fully staffed, high-quality public schools in North Carolina,” she says. “We have a common goal: we want what’s best for our students.”
