Teacher Profile: Kathia Flemens French & Seminar Teacher

By Lauren Waller, Asst. Head of Upper School for Faculty & Students

Quick to laugh, contemplative, and worldly wise, Kathia Flemens seems to have lived multiple full lifetimes in the timeframe most of us have only lived one. Teaching French and Seminar in the Upper School, Kathia serves as a beloved advisor to the DECA (Business) and Model United Nations clubs, offering expertise on international relations, business, and leadership at the highest level. She is beloved by students for her genuine kindness, her expertise and insight, and the life experiences she readily shares.

Initially, it was the newness of the GCDS Upper School that drew Kathia to us from teaching in Fairfax County, Virginia. She had been teaching in an International Baccalaureate context and loved that at GCDS, applied learning and projects were what more fully enabled her to see what students know, in contrast to quizzes and tests alone. Unsurprisingly and yet still wonderfully, it’s our students who have made GCDS feel like home for Kathia. And she has shown our Upper School students that the whole world can be their home, leading meaningful and engaging trips to Senegal and the Ivory Coast.

Originally from both New York City and Philadelphia (spending school years in Philly and summers in Harlem and Nassau County), Kathia had business on her mind as a young woman. In her backyard in Philadelphia, Kathia grew tomatoes, corn, and sunflowers, selling them to neighbors to raise money to help buy Christmas gifts for recent refugees or children in her church. Neighbors would offer tips on the best ways to grow or prune tomato plants, and helped her find ways to buy wholesale in order to turn a higher profit. Graduating from selling plants, Kathia helped the family business by doing accounting work, spending hours of her free time reading books from the library at Wharton to hone her skills and keep learning. A woman of words and numbers, Kathia wrote poetry on her roof and then came down to get to work crunching numbers. “Entrepreneurship has always been a part of my life,” Kathia notes. She loves the human creativity that comes with new ideas. She brings this love of ideas, practical savvy, and desire to help others to her work with our DECA club, emphasizing the importance of both a formal and informal education, and “being aware of the skills you need in the world.”

Kathia begins each day by waking early to spend time in prayer, knowing that continuously serving others keeps her grounded. Prior to her teaching career, Kathia was a social worker, and teaching is another way she helps and protects the lives of others, noting that she “values the whole human community.” Her students and advisees certainly feel her warmth, positivity, and care.

Growing up in a Jamaican and Haitian household, French and the francophone world have been at the center of Kathia’s life. Her parents both spoke French, and she learned both French and English as a child. Her love of the language is part of what drew her toward political science and leadership, and her time studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence proved transformational, providing a new perspective on political science and policy, ultimately leading her to pursue a doctorate. In my conversation with Kathia, she veered in and out of French phrases throughout, using them to add nuance and detail to her stories.

There is no doubt that Kathia’s deep understanding of leadership and political science, her business acumen, and her love of French contribute mightily to our GCDS faculty and to the student experience. From rooftop poems and backyard sunflower fields to DECA trips and global travel, we are fortunate indeed to have Kathia Flemens as a faculty member at GCDS!

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