‘He really is one of a kind’: Newport Harbor Latin and history teacher retires after decades of teaching
Before anyone asks, Joe Robinson wants you to know he hasn’t been teaching at Newport Harbor High School since he was 12, regardless of a social media post saying he’s been teaching for 70 years at the school.
“He has been the patriarch of our school for the past seven decades, and all of us admire Joe as a dear colleague and friend — he will be missed,” said Newport Harbor principal Sean Boulton.
The fact is that Robinson, now 82, got his start teaching at Ensign Intermediate in 1967 before he transferred to Newport Harbor two years later. But, Robinson won’t be striving for another decade on campus — he’s retiring in June.
In a recent interview, Robinson said he’s taught at Newport Harbor steadily since 1969, with the exception of a short leave of absence to spend time with his children. He said that as a younger man he didn’t plan to be a teacher. Instead, he aspired to become a Catholic priest — and even went to a seminary — but decided against it and left because he didn’t want to live alone.
He started his high school teaching career as a Spanish instructor, but then moved to teaching Latin because he’d learned so much of it while at the seminary. He joined the school’s history department and today teaches art history along with Latin II and advanced Latin.
“It’s amazing what they’re reading. They’re reading stuff written 2,000 years ago written by some of the most brilliant minds in Roman history,” Robinson said of his advanced Latin students. “It’s cool, challenging. Those kids I’ve had three or four years. I really have bonded with them, more than usual.”
He’s found his classroom work to be rewarding. “I like challenges; I don’t like teaching the same things all day. It keeps my mind busy. Seeing the kids excited about those subjects, that’s the joy,” Robinson said.
Robinson grew up in Costa Mesa and attended Mater Dei in Santa Ana while all his friends went to Newport Harbor.
“I still regret that; I wish I had gone to Harbor. But I came back and I got to know Harbor better than they did.”
Peter Helfrich said Robinson taught him and his five older siblings in the 1970s. Helfrich said that by the time he reached Newport Harbor, it was a prerequisite to take Robinson’s art history and European history classes.
“He’s just a really unique teacher. He really taught in a way where he didn’t dictate, but instead he shared knowledge in a really understandable and open way. He impacted a lot of students and not only [did he teach] myself and my siblings, he taught my three kids as well,” said Helfrich. “We’ve got a couple of generations flowing through Joe Robinson.”
Helfrich said it’s obvious that Robinson has loved his job, describing him as selfless and always putting his students first.
“I feel sorry for all the kids that aren’t going to have a chance to have him as a teacher,” said Helfrich. “He literally impacted thousands of kids in such a positive way. And I just think his career should be rightfully celebrated because of the fact he did so much in that profession. He really is one of a kind.”
Newport Harbor English teacher Gwendolyn Gaylord graduated in 2010, but she said Robinson was the first to let her back into his classroom when she started student teaching in 2015.
“While the assignment was to observe the strategies that the teacher employed in a given lesson, I found myself focusing more on his students’ behavior: Their engagement was palpable and infectious, something which is seldom seen on a high school campus — especially that early in the morning,” Gaylord wrote in an email.
“As was often repeated by instructors in my credential program, ‘Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’” wrote Gaylord. “Joe’s students engage with him so impressively because they trust him, wholly and completely.”
She said she was inspired by Robinson to go into the field of education. She added that she knew his retirement had to come eventually, but she doesn’t know what Newport Harbor will be like without him.
Neither does Robinson’s son, Gary, who currently teaches history at Newport Harbor High School.
Gary Robinson said he was in his father’s AP European History class with his older sister, Sara, in the 1990s. He described the class as comfortable for him, since it was being taught by his dad and occupied by his sister, his sister’s friends and his friends. He didn’t graduate high school or college with the intention to follow in his father’s footsteps, he said, but found his father to be a positive role model in how to teach and treat teenagers.
“Treat the kids with respect; they’re finding their own path,” said Gary Robinson. “That’s always kind of stuck with me.”
The son says he doesn’t think his family or anyone else pressured his father to retire. He noted his dad is as sharp as he’s ever been, so it isn’t a matter of not being capable of teaching anymore.
“I think he’s happy with where he is in life,” Gary Robinson said. “I have three kids he gets to see a lot. The school’s going to miss him. The students are going to miss him. I think he’s going to leave a big hole here … I feel happy for him as far as him doing on it on his own terms.” .
Joe Robinson said doesn’t have any one particular reason to retire.
“You just kind of know [when it’s time]. You’ll know when you’re done with whatever you’re doing. I felt that I’ve put the time in and I love every second of it. I love every kid I’ve taught. It’s just time to do something different. I can’t be more specific than that. I feel very confident that this is my time and I need to make this decision.”
“I love this age [group]. They’ve got all these decisions to make. They’re all life-changing: where, when and what they do can really change their lives. They’re at a very vulnerable but exciting part of their lives,” Joe Robinson said. “It’s fun to be around them with their energy and excitement. There’s sadness, when they’re overwhelmed by what they’re facing but all of that together is this raw humanness at that age. Newport Harbor’s a special school because everyone categorizes us at the rich kid school when in fact 40% of Newport Harbor is Latino and comes from westside Costa Mesa.
“We have a rich variety of kids and it adds to the richness of these kids’ lives and mine. They’re just amazing kids, but I’m guessing every teacher in every high school feels that way.”
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