By Dani Brauer

Ms. Joan Tobey has been teaching at the Day School for thirty-eight years now, and she is retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. She has significantly impacted all the students and faculty since she’s been here. I was lucky enough to sit down with Ms. Tobey and talk about her experiences in and out of the classroom. In this interview, Ms. Tobey shares her wisdom and talks about her experience at Spartanburg Day School and in her life before.

Ms. Tobey started teaching in 1965 and came to SDS in 1986. She has made many memories. “I love graduation. Many people come back. So every graduation is a party for me,” Tobey explained. She informed me that graduation is one of her most memorable moments at SDS every year. 

Ms. Tobey also shared that she and her long-time friend and coworker, Mrs. Sally Spencer, put together the alum author shelf in the library. She had many of our alumni who published books return to the school and participate in the unveiling event of the bookshelf. Ms. Tobey hopes it inspires students to write and follow their creative passions. When they first unveiled the shelf, there were only twenty books, but now there are seventy. The bookshelf is only one of Ms. Tobey’s accomplishments that have made a mark at SDS. 

Over the years, Ms. Tobey learned her favorite things about teaching, how they have affected her as a person, and how some are unique to education at SDS. Ms. Tobey elaborated on the close community at SDS and how it has made her experience as a teacher enjoyable. She is quite personable and enjoys making close connections with students and faculty here in a way that seems difficult at other schools where she taught. The personal relationships Ms. Tobey makes mean a lot to her, which has made SDS such an important place in her life. “Spartanburg Day School is a place where everyone knows everyone, and I’m so glad I got to teach at a place like this.” Considering Ms. Tobey has been at the Day School for many years, there will be many facets of the school that she will miss. However, the people are what she’ll miss the most. Ms. Tobey had already elaborated that interpersonal relationships are among her favorite things about teaching and the Day School. Along with making interpersonal connections, she loves watching as students grow and understand math as she teaches them. “The looks on my student’s faces when they finally understand a tough topic is amazing.” 

Mr. Colin Tony is the reason Ms. Tobey decided to become a teacher. At her high school, there was a day called Senior Day when seniors would take over a faculty role at the school. So it’s no surprise that Ms. Tobey decided to teach for the day. She took over for Mr. Tony. After her experience, she “never looked back.” He continued to influence her in many ways. He’s why Ms. Tobey doesn’t chew gum, and this is because of one fateful day in her freshman year. While fourteen-year-old Ms. Tobey was chewing gum at her desk, he came up behind her and almost knocked her out of her chair. Afterward, he whispered to her, “ladies don’t chew gum.” While many “ladies” today would scoff at that remark, it had a lasting impact on Ms. Tobey. If she has ever taught you and whispered to you not to do something, you can blame Mr. Tony. 

Even though most of us only know Ms. Tobey inside of school, she also has a life outside of it (obviously) and has made many outstanding accomplishments. In the 1970s and 80s, Ms. Tobey was an incredible soccer player. The magazine, Soccer Corner, featured her league in October 1980. The feature was revolutionary, as women were heavily underrepresented in the soccer community. Her league lasted around ten or eleven years, and many women got to play despite the stigmas associated with women playing soccer. Ms. Tobey’s love for soccer led her to coach her children’s soccer teams.  She also coached soccer at the day school for many years.

Ms. Tobey grew up in northern New Jersey in a city named Haworth after the Brontё’s town. She explained that it was a tiny town of “two square miles.” She further elaborated that it was a very safe town where she could bike everywhere and work at her local flower shop. 

With age comes wisdom, and you gain that through experience. Ms. Tobey has learned many lessons, and the most important is to “pay attention to the opportunities that pop into your path.” She has taken advantage of many opportunities and wouldn’t change them for the world. For example, in 2011 or 2012, she was asked by the then-headmaster, Mr. Dorrance, if she wanted to go to Africa—more specifically, Tanzania. Initially, Ms. Tobey had no desire to go, but then she heard about the organization globalbike. Mr. Curt McPhail is the founder of globalbike, and Ms. Tobey used to pass by him while riding her bike to school. He would unload his bike out of his car and cycle for the rest of his commute. Ms. Tobey decided that she had to talk to him. McPhail convinced her to go to Africa, and she’s gone five times now and brought about twenty Day School students with her. While in Tanzania, globalbike has set up bike shops and has donated many bikes to women to make resources more accessible to them and their towns. Ms. Tobey explained that the trip improved her, and she would have never known if she didn’t take the opportunity at hand. “If I could go back and change anything, I wouldn’t.”

Ms. Tobey has done so much in her life that many people could only dream of doing. It was my honor to be able to sit with her and talk about her life and accomplishments. However, this article is just the beginning of her sharing her story. Do yourself a favor and sit with Ms. Tobey before she leaves SDS and talk to her. She has more wisdom to share than I can begin to relay. Ms. Tobey has been a wonderful asset to Spartanburg Day School, and we’ll cherish her time here, but we send her off to more bike rides, books read, and time spent with family and friends.