The Ocean City Teacher Making a Difference, One Student at a Time
OCHS SCIENCE TEACHER CATHERINE GEORGES SUPPORTS HER TEACHERS BEYOND THE CLASSROOM IN ORDER TO BUILD STRONG FUTURE GENERATIONS
OVER THE SUMMER, A FORMER STUDENT STOPPED BY TO VISIT OCEAN CITY HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER CATHERINE GEORGES. The student was getting ready to begin her medical school journey in the fall, and she wanted to thank Catherine.
“She told me, ‘You were a big part of me knowing I could do it, Catherine said. Teaching, it’s investing in the next generation. The line I always say to my students is, Be better than my generation.”
Catherine wears many hats at OCHS. She teaches AP biology, honors biology, and anatomy and physiology. She also serves as the advisor for the National Honor Society and Future Healthcare Professionals Club, and even helped institute a reusable cup program throughout the school.
“You have to be committed to making the next generation better,” Catherine said. “A rule I have for myself is, the day I wouldn’t want to be a student in my classroom is the day I stop teaching”
And while it’s obvious within moments of talking to Catherine about her career that she was meant to be a teacher – full of passion for her profession, dedication to her students, gratitude for her school district – it wasn’t the career path she always planned to take.
“I was never going to be a high school teacher. There was no way,” Catherine said. “Then I realized how much of a difference a teacher can make.”
That realization came two years into her premed path at Franklin & Marshall College. Catherine was majoring in biology, and she took part in the America Reads Program, which is geared toward teaching young children to read at their grade level by the end of third grade. That changed everything.
“I just fell in love with the teaching process,”
she said.
At that point, she realized she wanted to pivot to education – a major not offered at Franklin & Marshall.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology, she headed to Stockton University – then Stockton College – to get her teaching certification.
I started teaching in January 2001, but then I took a few years off to raise my kids,” Catherine said. “I took a job in Ocean City in January 2008. I’ve been here ever since.” And she really wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Having taught at other schools where she didn’t find the same, Catherine was quick to acknowledge the amount of support and dedication OCHS leadership has not only to the students, but to the faculty and staff, too.
“OCHS supports its teachers. I’m always grateful,”
Catherine said. “Anything I’ve ever asked for, they say, ‘OK, let’s figure out a way to make that happen.’
If it’s good for the kids, they’re almost always going to figure it out.” That was certainly the case when Catherine, along with student Joseph Heng, a 2026 OCHS graduate, brought the idea for a school-wide reusable cup program to the administration. It was full-steam ahead from the beginning, and after securing personal donations from local residents, double-wall stainless steel cups with the OCHS logo on them were purchased for each student.
Local coffee shops offer discounts for using the cups, too.
“My interests are medicine, obviously, but also environmental. I’ve always had a problem with plastic waste. I have an issue with microplastics. I’ve done a lot of research into it, said Catherine, who earned her master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.
“We’re still building the program up a little bit more. When freshmen are incoming, hopefully this becomes more of a culture: We don’t need extra plastic in our oceans. We don’t need extra plastic in our bodies,” she continued. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Similar to starting the reusable cup program with Joseph, it was a student who came to Catherine lamenting the fact that the school didn’t have a Future Healthcare Professionals Club. Knowing it would be a great way to expose students to all of the different fields and professions in healthcare, Catherine helped create one.
And for the National Honor Society, of which Catherine took the helm in 2021, she’s been continually impressed with how highly motivated the student members are. It’s “students helping students,” as Catherine says, mentioning they’ve raised money for the American Red Cross, Blood Cancer United (formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and Beyond the Bell, a Vineland-based nonprofit that provides nutrition and support for students outside of typical school hours.
While Catherine does all she does simply to support her students – they’re what keep her coming back to the classroom every day, she says, and why she helps with extracurriculars – her efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.
In fact, her colleagues chose her as the Ocean City High School Teacher of the Year two years ago.
“We have amazing teachers at Ocean City. Just phenomenal teachers. The fact that my own colleagues thought so highly of me – that was everything,” Catherine said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”
And to think, she almost didn’t even end up in the classroom.
“It was a huge pivot,” Catherine said of her decision to switch majors many years ago. “But it brought me to where I belong.”
By Kristen Dowd