In the center of the math building, two old friends, with coffee mugs in their hand and a twinkle in their eyes, reminisce on a fulfilling journey of educating youth.
“We went through life together,” Palo Alto High School math teacher Natalie Docktor said. “We got married, we had babies, we got divorced, we had death, we had birth.”
Kathleen Bowers and Natalie Docktor are two of many math teachers at Paly, but their journey from graduate school, to 38 years of teaching together, to retirement sets them apart as a forever intertwined duo.
The pair first met in 1983 as graduate students getting their teaching credentials for math at Stanford University.
By 1989, two years after graduating, both teachers had come back and settled down teaching full time at Paly.
“I went to Capuchino [High School] and I didn’t love it, [so] I knew that I wanted to come back to Paly,” Docktor said. “… I never thought I would leave [Paly].”
Both teachers agreed that they felt very lucky working with the students at Paly.
“We had a very rigorous program,” Bowers said. “Kids rose to the level. I think our kids inherently want to be successful, and so they want to follow the rules by and large.”
Since their arrival, Palo Alto, and by extension Paly, have changed tremendously. They experienced Palo Alto evolve through the expansion of Silicon Valley, the invention of the iPhone and COVID-19. These changes have led to different relationships between teachers and students.
“They would talk to us more because they didn’t have so many other [learning] resources,” Docktor said. “They have so many ways to get help these days, back then they didn’t have as many.”
Before Khan Academy and other online math resources, Bowers and Docktor worked on the Paly Math Hotline. From Monday to Thursday, Paly students could call Paly math teachers for homework help.
“No computers, no internet and the kids need homework help, so I would be home and I have my [landline] phone,” Docktor said. “In the two-hour interval, a kid would call, ‘Hello, I need help with geometry,’ and I’d get my geometry book.”
At the time, according to Bowers, Paly itself was much smaller than today, with just around 1,000 students. There was also a different culture. Almost all students attended spirit week rallies, and teachers were more local, creating a tighter knit community and closer relations with students.
“Because we were smaller, the whole school really participated,” Bowers said.
Bowers recounted the most memorable example of her closeness with students, when she had many students visit her in the hospital following the birth of one of her children by cesarean section.
“There was a descending of children in my room and I had just given birth in the hospital and I had a C section,” Bowers said. “And then, I can still picture this, they were handing the baby around … I had so many kids [students] there [visiting] all day for the three days I was in the hospital. Looking back, it was insane. It was just so different.”
Despite this level of closeness being left in a pre-internet era, students of Bowers still find her to be a teacher that makes an effort to make personal connections with students to help them learn math. Senior and former student of Bowers, Ella Hwang, describes how caring Bowers is.
“She was so supportive of me, when I was struggling in the class she would have talks with me after school about what she can do to help me progress in the class,” Hwang said.
Throughout their careers they each stuck to their own teaching styles in the belief that they would be the best possible teachers if they stayed true to themselves.
“I would give this advice to all of the young teachers: don’t try to be somebody you aren’t,” Bowers said. “You have to figure out what works for you in your classroom and what makes you comfortable, or you’re never going to be any good. You’re only going to be good if you do it your way. So I have always kind of taught my own way.”
Bowers has been sure about her decision to retire in 2025 for a while, but has had her hesitant moments.
“This will be the first fall since I was four years old that I wasn’t going back to school,” Bowers said. “That has been on my mind today. I’m a little freaked out.”
Now, as they appreciate their last few weeks on campus, they look forward to their still-busy post-retirement plans. Bowers is looking forward to spending time with her grandson, playing bridge and pickleball and taking classes at Stanford. However, she won’t be totally done with teaching.
“I want to tutor three kids,” Bowers said. “Because I think the best part of teaching is the kids, and I think tutoring will allow me to still get to know a couple of kids”
On the other hand Docktor plans to be traveling in Europe this summer and will remain active afterwards.
“I’m crewing on a boat from the Mediterranean outside the Straits of Gibraltar, up the coast of Portugal this summer,” Docktor said. “So when you guys start school in September, I’m going to be traveling.”
After 38 years at the school, their lasting impact on students and the school remains.
“I want them to remember that there was a math teacher that they had, that cared about them,” Docktor said. “That’s all. I care about them. And I hope they know that.”
Looking back at their experience teaching the Paly community, Bowers and Docktor said they feel appreciative of how much they have learned from Paly.
“We’ve grown up with the students of Paly,” Docktor said. “It was our whole youth.”
