GMC Welcomes Mrs. Derrick!
Hello Mrs. Derrick
September 10, 2021
GMC is so thrilled to welcome Cathy Derrick as our new Dean of Students, College and Career Readiness Coordinator, and 11th/12th grade counselor!
From a young age, Mrs. Derrick had a passion for education. She loved to play school, so her dream job was to be a math teacher. She accomplished that dream, and also decided to become a counselor after a student-teaching placement where she learned to love the one-on-one student interaction that counseling provided. Mrs. Derrick graduated from Clemson University with her Bachelor of Science degree to teach math and a Masters of Education in Secondary Counseling. After graduation, she began counseling part time and teaching math part time. Mrs. Derrick has worked as a high school counselor in Greenville County Schools for 31 years. When asked what drove her to apply for her current position here at GMC, Mrs. Derrick says that she was drawn to the smaller size of the school.
Mrs. Derrick describes her roles here at GMC as overseeing the registration process, building the master schedule, generating report cards and transcripts, assisting in test administration alongside Ms. Looper, and working with students and their families one-on-one. The students here at GMC are always Mrs. Derrick’s first priority, and she wants them to know that she has an open-door policy and will do her best to assist students in whatever they need.
Mrs. Derrick values fairness, accountability, and hard work. Those values seem to come from her family, as she says “My mom and my dad inspire me. They instilled the value of hard work in me from an early age and coupled that with a fierce love.” As an educator, she says her most important responsibility is to teach students to be advocates for themselves and to leave them with the ability to hold themselves accountable. She is also passionate about fairness, saying that every student deserves to be treated equally.
Mrs. Derrick is so excited to be here at GMC to work with our wonderful students, and we’re happy to have her as part of our Blazer family!
