Chemistry teacher aims to inspire students

Kathy Nakamatsu was inspired early on to be a chemistry teacher by her own high school chemistry teacher Kathryn Hardy at Willow Glen High. Although Nakamatsu admitted she did not initially succeed in the class, she nonetheless developed a love for the subject and set her mind to follow her former teacher’s footsteps.

“I was inspired by my high school teacher, and by my sophomore year in high school, I knew what I wanted to be,” Nakamatsu said.

After getting her undergraduate degree in chemistry from UC Davis and her teaching credentials and masters degree from Stanford, Nakamatsu has been teaching AP Chemistry and Chemistry Honors for 21 years, the last seven at Saratoga High.

Nakamatsu said Hardy helped her understand the material in an exciting fashion.

“[Hardy] made chemistry fun and it made sense to me, so I got it,” she said. “She told a lot of stupid jokes, and she made me laugh.”

She said Hardy put in extra time and effort outside the classroom by organizing memorable and educational experiences for her students.

“She did what she called a Chem-a-Thon, where we sat in the cafeteria and worked chemistry problems for eight hours and raised money, and I had a lot of fun doing that,” she said.

Approximately five years ago, Nakamatsu wrote Hardy a letter to thank her for being an inspiring and great teacher. Hardy replied with an email thanking Nakamatsu for the note.

It turns out that Hardy lived in Oregon, where Nakamatsu’s husband, the well known pianist Jon Nakamatsu, was performing, so Nakamatsu and Hardy arranged a meeting.

The two still keep in touch today and exchange Christmas cards. The lessons that Hardy taught Nakamatsu are pleasant memories.

“It was great to see her and she was very touched that I was teaching chemistry because of her,” Nakamatsu said.

Even though Hardy inspired Nakamatsu to teach chemistry, Nakamatsu was also inspired by the “black and white” nature of the subject. Nakamatsu said that she likes chemistry because she understands it well.

“I like that there’s a right answer and a wrong answer, and the labs are a lot of fun,” she said.

Teaching chemistry is the perfect job for her, she said, because she is mathematically minded and enjoys the unpredictable and exciting nature of her job.

“I could never do an office job,” she said. “With teaching, every class is different, every day is different, every year is different.”