Former BVMS principal turns bedside educator

You may be able to take the educator out of the classroom, but you can’t take the passion to teach out of the educator.

And that’s what led Brad Thorson to his “second act”.

The longtime Brandon Valley teacher-turned-administrator retired from the district two years ago. His post then was that of principal of the Middle School. He transitioned to the Middle School after years as the assistant high school principal and former teacher and coach.

Today, he’s still teaching kids, but now it’s from the bedside of kids who are patients at the Sanford Castle.

“I think you’re always an educator, to be quite honest with you. I had a great career as an educator, but it was time to move on,” says the 57-year-old Thorson.

His role as the Sanford teacher began three months following his departure from the BV School District. He discovered the opportunity while kicking back at their lake cabin, when the “second-act” opportunity “popped up” up on his computer screen.

“That’s kind of a good fit,” Thorson said he told himself. “I can still work with kids and have summers off.”

He shared the idea with his wife, Jody, who told him the job sounded like the “perfect fit” and that it was “meant to be.”

Thorson’s role as the Sanford teacher is to lessen any stress that student patients and their parents may have regarding school.

“Patients who are short-term, I help them transition back into school,” he said, “making sure that the school knows they’re hospitalized, that sort of thing. With long-term patients, that’s when I get more involved with tutoring kids, helping them stay up-to-date on their schoolwork.”

Some high school students taking college-level courses don’t need to be tutored, but instead need guidance on accessing technology.

“One thing COVID has done is it’s allowed kids to have access to online schooling and online curriculum. … That’s a big change from when I started in education,” he said.

At Brandon Valley, Thorson worked largely with middle and high school-aged students. Tutoring the younger kids, he said, “has been a little bit of a learning curve.”

“Sometimes Google helps you with that,” he said. “But it’s all school-related, and it’s all dealing with kids and relationships. I was fortunate to do that for 31 years, and I can kind of carry that over to here.”

It’s the “relationships” aspect of the job that he relishes. After having battled through his own cancer diagnosis, Thorson said he understands what they’re going through.

“I can relate to kids, because I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to not feel good and have treatment and be sick for days and days and days. I had one little patient who was worried about having a port put in and what that would do. So, I just opened up my shirt and said, ‘I have a port. This is what they look like, and once it’s there, you’ll never know that it’s there.’ I think it helped ease some of that fear. There are other kids who are going through treatment much like I did. I can empathize because I know what they’re going through because I’ve been there and done that,” he said

The team approach Sanford takes at the Castle appeals to the former coach in Thorson. 

“When a patient comes on campus, they’re surrounded by wonderful people, whether it be child life specialists, dieticians, caseworkers, social workers, all of those sorts of things are a part of that team,” he said. “I’m impressed when a patient comes on campus, they’re surrounded by a bunch of great people to help not only the patient, but their families, too.”

Thorson’s work schedule mimics the school year calendar. He goes to the Castle Monday through Friday, and the number of hours he teaches depends on the caseload of patients between the ages of 5 and 18.

“Somedays, we have quite a few kids. Other days, the capacity is a little bit more,” he said. “Like I’ve told people, it gives you a purpose. I still feel connected to kids and I get to visit with people.”

Thorson admits there are “tough days”in his work at the Castle.

“You see patients going through treatment, going through a hard diagnosis, and those days are hard,” he said. “But all in all, when I walk out of here, I feel good at the end of the day knowing I’ve helped these kids.”

Unlike his previous career at Brandon Valley, there are no “snow days” at the Castle. But for the first time in more than three decades, the Thorson’s embarked on a February vacation. 

“It’s the first time in February that we’ve been able to take a vacation because when you’re a principal, you run by the calendar and you run by the bells, and you just can’t get away, so that was kind of a nice change,” he said.

Another perk of the job is he has his summers off and gets a break at Christmastime, too.

“It still gives me the flexibility of a school calendar and they’ve been really good to work with here. They’ve given me the flexibility that I need and it’s just been a win-win for everyone,” he said. “Someone asked me how long I plan to do this. I said I want to do this for a while, because I really enjoy it. It’s not the day to day grind of being a principal. It’s different. You still have kids and that sort of thing, but it’s not, for lack of a better word, 24/7 as principal, connected to the phone and email all of the time.”

Thorson is about to reach six years since his cancer diagnosis. He continues to do treatment once a month and has scans every three months.

“But everything’s been stable for over four years now, so that’s a great sign,” he said. “I feel great and you know, I’ve been pretty blessed.”