Scranton drama teacher finds calling in classroom
Jul. 3—Kathleen "Katie" O'Neil was destined to become a teacher.
She had teachers in her family, tutored for many years and served as a Girl Scout leader. Though she initially planned to work as a graphic designer, something felt off. The signs pointing to teaching were in front of her the whole time, but it took a conversation with her mom to finally see it.
"I will never forget — we're in the Marywood parking lot, and I was kind of having this crisis of, 'What am I going to do with my life,' and my mom was more or less like, 'You've kind of always been a teacher. I think that's your path,'" O'Neil said during a recent day inside her classroom. "And it was one of the moments where it just became so clear. How did I never notice it? It was always meant to be."
Today, O'Neil is the speech and drama teacher at Scranton High School, her alma mater, and an adjunct professor at Keystone College. At Scranton, O'Neil also serves as co-adviser of the yearbook committee and as adviser of the Knight Players drama club. She's settled into her role in education quite nicely, she said, which is funny considering it was never a thought in her mind when she was in high school. That's a valuable lesson she hopes to impart to her students.
"I tell them all the time, 'You have no idea where life will take you,'" the city resident said. "They think they need to have their lives figured out at 16, 17, and it's comical. Life doesn't work that way. ... I try to teach them to follow their happiness. Everyone is good at something, and it's about figuring that out and learning what makes you happy."
Above all, O'Neil knew she wanted to stay where she grew up. After graduating from Marywood University in 2010, O'Neil landed a long-term substitute teaching position but couldn't get a permanent job. While friends from her major moved to Philadelphia and Maryland for full-time teaching gigs, the lifelong Scranton resident wanted to make a difference at home and was willing to hold out for the right position.
In the meantime, she held onto her second job at Target in Dickson City, where she was a team lead taking care of the store's front-end operations. Target later offered her a promotion, and on the day she was poised to begin training, she got an offer for a full-time job teaching seventh-grade English at Northeast Scranton Intermediate School.
She took the position and from there moved around a bit thanks to budget cuts and subsequent staffing issues. Thankfully, she also was certified to teach history and taught social studies for a bit before moving again, landing at Scranton High to teach American government and geography.
O'Neil counts it as one of the most pivotal moments of her teaching career since it took place during recent historic times.
"It was like every lesson was playing out in real life and on the news," she said. "We were learning about what an impeachment trial is while one is happening. It was one of the coolest experiences because I felt like I was able to show them exactly what was happening. ... I'm not big on (my students) relying on learning everything from a book. Those tangible experiences are how they're going to learn and how it will stay with them."
Shortly afterward, she found out the school's speech and drama teacher, Jenny Brotherton, planned to retire. Brotherton also directed plays and musicals at Scranton, and O'Neil had helped while she subbed and fell in love with it. O'Neil landed the opportunity as the new speech and drama teacher while also taking over the Knight Players.
Just as she planned her first play and settled into her new position, however, the pandemic hit. Every teacher, student and parent struggled over this time period thanks to virtual classes and lack of socialization, O'Neil said. It was particularly hard to teach her students about effective communication while trapped inside a screen. She found an opportunity through it, though, by enrolling in an online master's degree program, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, with the University of Scranton.
After earning her degree while also teaching virtually, she and her students returned to the classroom at the beginning of last school year. It was an adjustment, she said, but her classes naturally focus on socialization and communication skills, like how to be active listeners or read nonverbal cues. In her higher-level speech and drama classes, students read and dissect plays, which usually ties in some history.
"English and history are cousins," she said. "They go together."
These classes also give students the opportunity to get involved in Knight Players productions. O'Neil has always been a theater kid and remains involved with the local performing arts community, volunteering with both Actors' Circle and the Scranton Shakespeare Festival. She tries to help students understand all the moving parts involved in putting on a production. And while she loves seeing her students come alive on stage, she finds it especially fulfilling when they find unexpected joy in lesser-known parts of theater.
"They think 'drama' and think 'acting,' and I always have to tell them, 'There are so many ways to be involved in theater, from props and costumes to backstage and front-of-house,'" she said. "It's amazing to see how they take to whatever job they're doing."
Ensuring her students' happiness and well-being is the most important part of her mission as an educator, O'Neil said. It comes through in her work, like choosing the school version of the play "She Kills Monsters," which the Knight Players performed this past spring. The play touches on themes of grief, loss, LGBTQ+ and identity, and the students explored these topics and emotions. O'Neil also noted Scranton emphasizes social and emotional learning (a curriculum will be in place at the district next school year), which she feels is just as important to students as academics.
"Honestly, I am just glad to be in a place where I can help students become their best selves," she said. "I am a big advocate for ending the stigma around mental health. I hope that I can be more active in expanding mental health awareness."
Part of her journey toward where she is today involved losing two people she adored to suicide. While she crumbled after the first death, the second made her realize she wanted to do whatever she could to help. Students face immense pressure not only with their schoolwork but also in their personal relationships, and they experience stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues just like adults. These big feelings can be tough to handle as a teenager, and O'Neil tries to be there for her students when they need a mentor or just need someone to listen. She leads with love, which has never steered her wrong before.
"I focus on remembering the love and try to make sure I do everything with love," O'Neil said. "Life hits you in so many different directions, but with love and hope, I found ways to be stronger and happier."
Contact the writer:
gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127;
@gmazurTT on Twitter
