Trevathan brings an end to fulfilling career
Having met many goals over her 30-year career, Warren County Middle School principal Donna Trevathan recently announced her retirement, saying her job is best suited for a young and energetic person.
“Being a principal is a full-time, never-ending job — more than just the school day. It’s a lot of fun for a while, but the time has come look at other opportunities,” she said. “I’ve had a glorious career and I can’t think of anything else that after 30 years could have left me more fulfilled.”
Trevathan began her career with Warren County Schools in the early ’70s as a kindergarten teacher. After four years she took a position at the senior high teaching business education classes, which she held for three years before being transferred to the county’s gifted program.
In 1982 she was named the first director of the teachers center, a position she held for eight years. She said she considers her role in the start of the teachers center, as well as her role in instituting the Young Scholars Institute summer program, as two of the biggest highlights of her career.
In 1990 Trevathan was named the school system’s director of instruction, a position she held for two years before being named principal of the junior high and being given the responsibility of overseeing the system’s transition of the middle school concept.
It is at the middle school where Trevathan said she feels she has contributed the most to the education of children in Warren County.
“The middle school concept is so important for kids, because at this age they are still impressionable. I feel it is the last, best chance to teach the things that change the world, things like values and citizenship. I feel there is nothing more important than what we’re doing here,” she said.
While looking forward to retirement, she said she will leave with a great deal of nostalgia, noting much of who she is tied up in the walls of the middle school building, a building where she has been a student, a teacher and a principal.
She said the daily interaction with the school’s teachers and staff will be what she will miss most. “I’ll miss the children too, of course, but I’ll really miss the daily interaction with the teachers, those individuals who have given everything they have for a cause they believe in,” she said.
In her retirement Trevathan said he hasn’t yet made many specific plans, other than to spend more time in her roles of wife and mother, but noted she looks forward to being able to focus on some personal interests.
“I’ve always been one to set goals and after 30 years in education the time has come to move on and pursue some dreams. I feel I’ve done what I’m supposed to and now I’m free to follow those dreams, even though they may not be fully developed yet,” she said.