Yvonne Thomas was born in Fort Jackson, a military fort in Columbia, South Carolina. Thomas has taught at Orange High School for 33 years because her parents convinced her to pursue teaching. Thomas loves watching students grow and inspiring them to follow their dreams.” How much they “grow intellectually” amazes her.
She has taught Food Service (when it was still offered as a class), which teaches catering and how to buy food. During lunch her class would sell food that they prepared to the staff and they had a business called the Black Cat Cafe. Her business grew so popular that she had people outside of school wanting to buy her goods.Thomas now teaches Early Childhood Ed 1 and 2 and Parenting and Child Development. She tries to reach out to her students and help them understand that “being a parent is a 24/7 job that shouldn't be taken lightly.”
Before Thomas was a teacher she was an associate buyer at Belks, a job that consisted of long hours, traveling to New York for fashion shows, and designing. Thomas was also a Sunday school teacher at Memorial United Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.
Thomas has noticed changes in OHS since she started teaching in 1980. When she first started there was no air conditioning which meant student were let out early on hot days. There was no 400 wing and the library and cafeteria were bigger. There was also no small gym and students had six 50-minute-long classes. There was a black homecoming queen and a white homecoming queen. Also, prom was held in the gym and smoking was allowed on campus.
Thomas has thought about retiring, but she believes “when the time comes I'll know.” When she does leave she doesn't plan on telling anyone because she doesn't like all the attention she would receive.
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