Derek King on his childhood, living with his parents, haircare, and dreams for the future | Humans of Catlin Gabel

By Hazel Walrod, ‘22

“After I graduated college, I had no idea what I was doing, so I went back to Menlo Park and lived with my parents again, which was okay, not great. I think I was still figuring out what I was supposed to do with an English degree,” Derek King, the beloved Catlin Gabel School (CGS) Upper School library assistant, shared with me when we sat down together. 

“I had started working at the public library in Santa Cruz, just shelving books, so I applied to the public library in Menlo Park and started working there, and then became a library assistant, kind of like moved up the library ranks, and I think around that time I was like ‘maybe I should just keep working at libraries.’” 

Derek grew up in Northern California in a city called Menlo Park. He had experience with CGS-esque private schools, but eventually wanted to break out of this space. He described his transition to public high school as “natural.”

 “I went to private schools for K-8…and then I went to an all-boys catholic high school for a couple years, and then by my sophomore year I was ready to, like, bust out and go to the public high school. So my junior year I switched over to the public high school… so there was this whole transformative thing happening.” 

Surprisingly, his public school education, and a single teacher, in particular, sparked Derek’s interest in pursuing English in college.

“When I transferred from the private catholic school to the public school, they put me in the standard English 11 class and I had Ms. Strube and she was like, ‘oh, you were a good student this year, you should be in my AP class next year’... I felt like it [taking AP classes] was for kids that were smart, and I just didn’t really put myself in that box,” Derek shared, highlighting a limiting belief he had at the time. 

“I took her AP Art History class also, and I think that those two courses together, taking them with her, just really got me more excited about history of art and literature and figuring out that those connect to everything.”

After high school, Derek went to UC Santa Cruz, where he enjoyed his courses, professors, and living on the beach. After he graduated, he was unsure what to do, and moved back in with his parents to save money, where his journey of becoming a librarian began. 

“In 2015, my partner and I traveled for nine months around the world wherever we could go and that was definitely made possible because I saved money living with my parents after college.”

Right after the trip, Derek moved to Portland, Oregon. “I was done living in Menlo Park, I wanted to live somewhere new.”

“I got the job here a couple weeks after I moved here which was very surprising to me. I had no idea what the school was when I applied, I just wanted a job. So there was this big learning curve and cultural curve to like, get the hang of.”

Derek started in the lower school library. 

“I thought that that was really incredible that this place that I was working had me go on trips and be involved in the school more,” he shared, discussing his first impressions of CGS.

Currently, he is taking an online masters course in hopes of becoming a full librarian. The course ends this spring. 

Beyond his work in the library, however, Derek King has many diverse interests. He makes a weekly sourdough bread, and has played guitar since high school, even being a part of multiple bands. 

Derek is also known for riding his bike to campus. “I ride my bike everywhere. I don’t have a car so that involves a large part of my life.” His daily commute from North Portland is 1 hour and 15 minutes each direction, although he completely seriously responded to my question of why he doesn’t own a car with, “it seems so much easier to bike.”

In spite of his time-consuming commute, it seems Derek keeps his other routines relatively simple. Curious about how he maintains his curls, I asked about his haircare routine, to which he responded, “haircare?” surprised 

“I haven’t used shampoo for, like, 15 years.” Read more about the benefits associated with the “no-poo” movement here. Derek also keeps it natural by not blow-drying his hair. 

Finally, I asked Derek to share his hopes for the future, at Catlin and beyond. Derek said he hopes for a future where print books are still popular. 

He lamented the workload in the Upper School as a barricade between students and reading for fun, something he obviously cares about. 

“When I worked at the Lower School, kids would have so much time and love checking out books from the library, there was this very palpable excitement, but now I see the workload you have as upper school students really seems to get in the way of being able to pick up a novel and read it.”

Derek shared later in an email that “There are so many wonderful, smart and dedicated folks in the world working hard to build and sustain a healthy future. A lot of them are at this school. Much of my hope has come from working with young folks and seeing your creativity and passion and care.”

Derek himself is still young, though, and his anecdotes about breaking free from private school, finding his passion, living with his parents, and all of his pastimes were at times woefully relatable to a high schooler. It is an inspiring reminder that our faculty and staff at CGS are much more than just educators and facilitators, but full of their own stories and quirks.