Colbath’s life beyond the walls of Thomas Jefferson.
Photo by Rebecca Holt
Sharon Colbath is widely accepted as one of TJ’s most wonderful science teachers in its 50-year history. However, she didn’t always want to teach. In fact, Colbath juggled many interesting and impressive career paths before deciding to make her mark on the education field.
Colbath grew up in Orange, California, graduating from Villa Park High School in 1974. “I really didn’t have a favorite class in high school. I was just trying to get myself ready for college, so I took all the challenging classes that I could,” said Colbath. And it seemed to work out for her for the most part; she graduated from one of California’s prestigious universities, UCLA, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Geology. However, Colbath stated modestly, “I was originally an astronomy major but I felt poorly prepared by my high school and had a lack of maturity to take the course work, so I changed my major to Geology.”
Colbath originally wanted to be an astronaut, and figured they would need geologists in space, so she went on to receive her Master’s Degree in Geology at the University of Oregon. However, she discovered it actually was not the profession for her. “I just felt like it took too much personal time to be an astronaut and there was never really a guarantee that I would be able to go to space,” Colbath said. “At that time, I wanted to get a job in the oil industry, and if you had only your Bachelors, you had to work on drilling oil rigs for two months or more at a time, working 12 hour shifts. I did not want to do that, so I went on to get my Masters to work better hours. For my Masters I studied fossils from the coast of Oregon and published it in the Journal of Paleontology in July 1985.” After this, Colbath was hired by Gulf Oil and moved to Casper, Wyoming where she worked as a geologist for three and a half years; however, this still didn’t seem to be Colbath’s dream job. “I actually didn’t like the job all that much. I liked working on the rigs but I hated the office work, so when Chevron bought Gulf Oil they laid off 40,000 people. I was glad to be laid off and retrained as a teacher, “ Colbath remembered.
Colbath moved to Denver because of her husband’s job transfer and completed her teacher retraining here at Metro State. “I started teaching at Cole Middle School in 1986, teaching 8th grade science. I did that for two years, and then taught 6th grade science and math for three years. At that time Cole was changing to an art school and so we were told to leave if we didn’t think art was the most important field; so I left. I came to TJ in 1991 and have been here ever since. I taught math and science originally, but then I switched to just teaching science,” said Colbath. “I wanted to teach chemistry because of my desire to get students ready for college. I wanted to show students how easy chemistry was and that any one could do it if they tried.”
Students at TJ know how extremely lucky they are to have such a devoted teacher. “I believe that teaching is one of the most important professions and that we can make a difference to more people than anyone else, each year. I want everyone to have a successful first year in college and not struggle like I did. I believe that everyone can be successful and can be anything they want to. I want to help students reach that potential, especially if they haven’t been a good student and now want to turn their life around. I can teach them what they missed and give them confidence that they can do anything,” said Colbath. In fact, Colbath thrives on making a difference in her students’ lives. “My favorite part is when a student turns around and actually succeeds in school. I love it when I have a student who was happy with a ‘D’ in school but then starts improving and really wants to learn and brings their grade up higher. Then I feel like I have been successful.”
In an example of her success, Colbath shared a story about one of her more memorable students, “One of the best turn-around examples graduated last year and is now attending college. Diniya Abdurahman had an ‘F’ in my chemistry class at the 1st six weeks but by the end of the year she had an ‘A’. She never thought she could succeed in school because she was from Africa and didn’t start school until she was eleven years old. She was very low in confidence, but she really turned around.”
Outside of school, Colbath enjoys spending time with her Italian Greyhound, Phoebe, reading, practicing Sudokus, getting active by riding her bike, and listening to the Rockies games. She also enjoys escaping Colorado’s cold and dry climate by going back to her home state, California, sitting on the beach, eating lunch and watching the ocean with her husband. “In fact, this is what I will be doing over Christmas in San Diego,” said Colbath excitedly.
Colbath has been married to her husband for 23 years and they love traveling together, and even bringing Phoebe along. They have traveled all over the world including New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. Sharon Colbath is clearly a devoted teacher who loves to create success for her students; however, she manages to make time to do what she loves aside from her career here at TJ.
