Henrico's Top Teachers – Robert Thompson, III, Highland Springs High School, technology

Robert Thompson became a teacher because of a bet he made with his wife.

Two decades ago, Thompson was working as an engineer in the commercial airline industry when his wife encouraged him to go into teaching. After some thought, Thompson told his wife that if he applied for a job and got accepted that day, he would switch to teaching.

Thompson applied for a teaching position in Greensville County, Virginia. Later that day, he received his acceptance letter.

Since then, Thompson has taught for 22 years, 17 of them at Highland Springs High School. The engineering teacher also is the director of Highland Springs’ Center for Engineering, a popular specialty center in Henrico. 

To Thompson, students are like flowers – every one of them has the potential to grow, they just need someone to give them the proper nutrients and care.

“I believe every child can learn. It’s up to the teacher to figure out how to reach that child in that space,” he said. “You have to find the right way to cultivate that individual. If you don’t give them the proper amount of love, they won’t flourish. So that’s my job.”

Once students realize you care about them, a lot of the other issues you might encounter as a teacher will go away, Thompson said, because most of the time, students just want to be heard. Thompson makes sure to be a visible presence for his students even outside of the classroom, showing up to students’ football games, boy scout ceremonies, and family celebrations.

Engineering is a challenging subject, where failure is necessary but frustrating. But when students are able to conquer that frustration, it’s like the engineer in their heads turned on the light bulb, and Thompson remembers why he followed through on his bet all those years ago.

“When they’re a little downtrodden and they feel like they can’t do it, but then that light clicks and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I understand,’” Thompson said. “Every time that happens, it’s like a reinvigorating moment in my life. It tells me, hey, you can do this for another 10 years, because that one student can change the whole world.”

Watching his students grow up from 14-year-old freshmen to 18-year-olds walking across the graduation stage, getting ready to go to college with a full ride, is another “lightbulb” moment for Thompson. Or the smiles and joy the students maintain even when they’re pushing through a rough time.

“Regardless of what a student got on their grade, if it’s a B or a C or a D, but yet that joy is still there, that tells me that they still have hope, that they like my class,” he said. “It's a hard concept that I’m teaching, but when they get a low grade, they’re not going to shut down on me.”

But nobody prepares teachers for the emotional load that comes with being one, of being there for your students’ hardest times and worrying about them even when you go home. And nobody prepares you for the unimaginable – losing a student. Just last week, Thompson learned that a former student had passed away, but still, Thompson had to be there for all of his current students as they worked to finish out the school year.

“It’s challenging trying to maneuver through those emotional situations. You have to, as a teacher, be willing to allow that emotional pull on us to occur, not only with student situations, but even from their parents, they’re all pulling my emotions,” he said. “Nobody told me about this when I was an engineer. I have students who graduated back in 2012, 2011, even 2007 who still call me to get that emotional support, and nobody tells you that that’s part of the job.”

For Thompson, what is worth that emotional load is the satisfaction he gets from knowing he has positively influenced a student’s life, to the point where that positive influence carries far into a student’s future.

“I remember my former student who was a freshman at Virginia Tech called me and said, ‘Mr. Thompson, I just wanted to let you know that Highland Springs was harder than Virginia Tech is right now. Y’all have prepared me so well that this is easy,’” Thompson said. “When they come back and tell you that they’re prepared or they’re ahead of their peers, that’s awesome stuff. It’s just the icing on the cake.”

Thompson is the type of teacher that lets his students be who they are in his classroom, never letting them quit on themselves, those who nominated him said.

“Mr. Thompson is one of the most caring teachers that I know. Since I was in 10th grade, he has always been there for me and has helped me through all of my issues and drama during my high school years,” one nominator wrote. “He listens and doesn’t judge me for who I am and I couldn’t ask for a better teacher than him.”

“His teaching style makes the material easy to understand and apply. His class feels light-hearted and less stressful than it would normally be,” another nominator wrote. “Mr. Thompson is fun to be around and very understanding. Students often feel comfortable going to him about any problems, and he makes sure that we know he is available if we ever need to talk to him.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.