By: Nelson Kramer

Editor-in-Chief

Coming to the end of each year means saying goodbye to some of our beloved staff here at LGHS; this year, we lose one of our best. For 21 years, the inspirational Cathy Messenger has taught at Los Gatos High School, and during that time, she has made significant strides in improving our science department while leaving a meaningful impact on the rest of our campus. 

Messenger’s path to becoming a high school teacher wasn’t always clear. After graduating from UC Davis with a biochemistry degree, she went straight to work in scientific research at Livermore Labs and then moved into medical diagnostics shortly after. One thing has been apparent throughout her career: Messenger has always been drawn to teaching. Starting out training people in the field, then volunteering as an elementary science teacher, and finally building a strong legacy at LGHS, guiding people through the fascinating world of science has always been her calling. 

When Messenger got her first teaching job at LGHS, she felt like she had won the lottery.  Destiny led her down a funny path as she was recommended for the job on a whim, freshly out of cancer treatment. She found her place in a tight-knit community, fortunate enough to have a well-funded science program with room to grow; Messenger found the place where she would come into herself. The community here is unlike any other; as she enthused: “It is phenomenal in terms of how much we support each other; whether in just learning a new curriculum, arranging schedules so you can watch another teacher teach your course, or what we do when there’s a bad thing that happens to one of us.”

Messenger co-founded and led the Advanced Science Research (ASR) course, a class where students could bring their own ideas to the table from day one and perform guided scientific research throughout the entire year. For this course, teaching meant inspiring, guiding, and letting students shine on their own. Messenger won awards at the state level for her influence in this course and her effort in providing students with access to self-guided work and research. It’s no surprise that many students used their findings to continue their research in college and beyond, demonstrating the class’s cornerstone effect on so many LGHS alumni.

The torch that she picked up seven years ago from former AP biology teacher Steve Hammack she has carried valiantly, adding to the curriculum and improving it in her own ways. At the heart of all her work and teachings is a passionate pragmatism:  “You’re living at a time that you need to be STEM literate. It’s too big a force in your lives to just blindly accept what’s going on around you.” She also believes that collaboration and connecting with others are both essential to learning, and that is just part of the remarkable legacy she leaves to our school, to our science department, and to our community.