Robin Whitaker is the Joy House Academy classroom teacher. She attended Reinhardt College from 1980-1982 and graduated from Kennesaw College in 1985. She is certified in English and Secondary Education as well as in Gifted education. Over her thirty-year teaching career, she has worked with students at all levels, from the honors to the at-risk population.

In May 2015 Robin retired from her thirty-year career teaching English at Cherokee High School in Cherokee County. While she has always felt called to teach, she could no longer tolerate what she saw as the state-wide bureaucratic dismantling of public education. She was uncertain what was next for her and prayed that God would direct her path.

When her own child faced a crisis in July and August following her retirement, Robin turned to God for help. In a moment of helpless desperation, she prayed, “God, I can’t do this. I don’t have the strength. I don’t have the money. I can’t do it.” God said to her, “Maybe you can’t, but I can.” The next day, her friend sent her a text; the friend had seen through her Facebook feed that the Joy House was looking for an English teacher, and she immediately thought, “Robin needs that.” Robin went to our Joy House page and saw that we were looking for “an English/literature teacher who wants to spread the love of Christ.” She knew that the Joy House was the place God meant for her to be.

Robin was hired in August of 2015 and she continues to marvel at God’s power, and she is thrilled to be able to teach in an environment that not only allows her to talk about God, but that encourages it. She is thankful that God has provided an opportunity not only to meet the needs of her own child but to help others at the same time, doing what she has always loved and felt called to do: teaching.