Katherine Shrum, or Kate, was an ESL teacher at Charlottesville High School, as well as an alumni at the school. Kate was loved by her fellow teachers, her students, and many others in her community, and sadly on January 20th, 2019, she lost her life to neuroendocrine carcinoma, a form of cancer. Kate shared her life with her husband, parents, siblings, students and many loving friends. Some of her students, Nicka, Elias, Sunny, and Khin, felt that Mrs. Shrum was even more of a friend to her scholars then a teacher, their favorite part of Kate’s teaching was her singing, dancing, and overall attitude towards the class and how fun she wanted to make learning for her students every day.  “Every time we had a problem, Mrs. Shrum was there for us” said her students on her availability as a friend and mentor as well as teacher. Mrs. Shrum was always making her students laugh, creating a great classroom environment for them, and using her positive attitude and love for teaching to make her students feel at home at C.H.S.

TIna Vasquez and Peter Davis, also teachers here at charlottesville high school, are working towards holding a memorial for Mrs. Shrum and other charlottesville teachers who have lost their lives in recent years. They plan to create a memorial wildflower garden outside the school where students who were especially close to Mrs. Shrum can gather and plant wildflower seeds in her honor. “The garden will include a gravel path, a birdbath, and we’ve already begun planting milkweed to attract butterflies, as well as some wildflowers that should show a variety of colors” said Mr. Davis about the memorial garden. The garden is right outside of the corner between the C and D hallways, right beside Mr. Davis’ classroom and the urban gardening class. Hopefully this memorial will serve as a reminder for students that life is very precious and to always cherish it, and also as a way for Charlottesville High School to never forget Mrs. Kate Shrum