Townsend Forms Bonds with Students, Chemicals

 Giovanni Rosendo, associate editor

Kathy Townsend is a bright-eyed, eager teacher who is creating bonds with students.

She was born in the small town of Sundown, Texas and graduated from high school in her hometown before coming to South Plains College for two years and earning an associate’s degree.  She then attended Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a Bachelor of Science degree in math.  Townsend recently graduated from Texas Tech University with a master of education degree. 

During college, one of the biggest obstacles for Townsend was “fitting the schedule.”

“Trying to graduate with my bachelor’s in four years and taking 19 to 21 hours a semester, and work, and try to do good in school, and things like that were probably the hardest,” said Townsend. 

She also worked part-time in the chemistry stock room.

For as long as she can remember, Townsend has always wanted to be a teacher. 

“My grandmother tells stories about me putting a desk on the front porch of my house and trying to teach all the neighborhood kids when I was little,” said Townsend, “so I’ve wanted to teach since I was tiny.”

She wasn’t entirely sure that she would be teaching chemistry or college-level students, until she experienced the setting for herself.  While attending SPC, she decided she wanted to teach at a college.

Townsend teaches several different sections of chemistry on campus.  This semester, Townsend can be found teaching Basic Chemistry and Introduction Chemistry.  She has taught General Chemistry previously.

“I love the Intro to Chemistry, because those are my nursing students and they’re such hard workers,” Townsend said. ”They really get into the class, and I really enjoy that.”

She enjoys interacting with students rather than just lecturing.  Townsend enjoys mixing all types of teaching in order to gain feedback from students.

Townsend has been teaching at SPC for about three and a half years, including the past two years as a full-time instructor.

In her free time, Townsend enjoys scrap booking.  She recently purchased a storage building to keep her supplies in. 

She also has seven animals in her home, including three dogs, two cats and two rabbits. 

In addition to their pets and craft materials, Townsend and her husband are soon expecting a new addition to the family.

Townsend is due on March 7 and will be having a girl named Katelynn Anne, the first child for the Townsend family and the first grandchild on both sides of the family.  She mentioned that she would like to have a couple more children.

“ I live a typical West Texas family life,” said Townsend. 

She has since moved back to Sundown and is living in the house that she grew up in.

Townsend plans on teaching as a life-time career.

“I love South Plains, “ said Townsend. “When I was a student here and I decided that I wanted to teach college, I made it a goal to come back here to teach here, so this is exactly where I want to be.”

Even though it is a while away, when it is time to retire Townsend plans on traveling.  “We would love to recreate a trip that he (her husband) took a few years ago, where he started out in Texas, went up to Canada and then came down the coastline.  It took him months to do it,” said Townsend.