Meet Catherine Lu

Catherine Lu

By Zoey Patterson

Catherine Lu is Athenian’s new Mandarin teacher. She moved to the United States from China four years ago, and is interested in what she could learn at Athenian about American culture.

“I feel that through school, the place I work, I know this country, or this culture...I just feel there’s still so many things about this country I need to know and to learn, and I feel school is really a good place [to do that],” Lu said.

Lu is also excited to learn about Athenian culture specifically, and expressed a particular interest in the international students.

“I’m very excited to now have a lot of students from China, and I just feel, I don’t know, just naturally close to them,” Lu said. “This year, two of them applied to be my TAs, and I’m very excited about that, too.”

The outdoor aspect of Athenian also appealed to Lu when she chose to come here, especially because of her previous teaching job in San Francisco.

“The driving and the commute can be very stressful there, and...I’m not very good at parallel parking, so whenever I’d drive there, I’d just feel so scared...and so I was like, hmm, maybe I should work in a more open space area,” Lu said. “When I found this opportunity came up...I had never heard of this school before, but I see Danville, and there is open space, and you know, it’s more nature—I was like, hmm, maybe I should explore that school.”

Not only does Lu have TAs she’s looking forward to connecting with, she’s also a ninth grade advisor.

“I feel that my favorite part of being a teacher is having a close connection with my advisees,” Lu said.

The fact that they are in ninth grade also interests Lu, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel, as ninth graders, they might feel all different kinds of emotions when they join the Athenian high school in this situation, so I will try my best to help them to have a better, more smooth transition,” Lu said.

Lu herself has definitely felt the effects of the pandemic, as it has impacted some of her favorite hobbies.

“I love swimming and hiking. That’s why I feel a little depressed during the pandemic, because I cannot go swimming anymore,” Lu said.

But the pandemic has not put a damper on every aspect of Lu’s life.

“I feel like this is a fun part of my life, especially now, considering, you know, the outside world, and the pandemic, and everything,” Lu said. “Whether I can come to the class, it’s just to calm myself down and to remind me there’s still good things in life and we still have hope.”