STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Supportive Environment Allows District Induction Teacher of the Year Kathryn Purushotham to Grow

During her first month teaching kindergarten at Horrell Hill Elementary School, Kathryn Purushotham received advice that she wants first-year teachers to know.

“I was feeling overwhelmed and so much was going on. I was talking with one of the other kindergarten teachers and she told me ‘You’re doing enough,” said Purushotham, who is in her second year at Horrell Hill. “It might feel like you’re not doing everything, but you are. You are doing enough.”  

That advice, Purushotham said, as well as the support from her colleagues at Horrell Hill is what got her through her first year of teaching.

“My whole first year experience would’ve been entirely different if I didn’t have the team I had,” she said.

Purushotham, Richland One’s 2025-2026 Induction Teacher of the Year, grew up in Connecticut but came to Columbia to study early childhood education at the University of South Carolina. While working on her bachelor's degree, Purushotham did her student teaching at Horrell Hill. She says that led to her decision to stay at the school and take a kindergarten teacher position there after graduating from USC in 2024.

“I liked the community at Horrell Hill. I felt like, for my first year teaching, I wanted to be somewhere where I already had connections,” said Purushotham.

She says she enjoys teaching kindergarten because of the students’ curiosity and excitement about the world around them.

“Kindergarten students are excited about everything because everything is so new to them. I like how I’m laying down their foundation for everything,” said Purushotham.  

She says her students function best under “structured chaos,” allowing for exploration while sticking to classroom rules.

“The students want to know everything for themselves and try everything themselves, but we still have a schedule. They know what’s going to happen next, how we’re going to do this and when we’re going to do that,” said Purushotham.

The biggest lesson she learned during her first year teaching was not to be afraid to ask for help.

“A lot of times, I would try to do everything myself. It was hard for me to remember that I should just ask for help. Someone was always willing to help me or do something for me,” she said.

Purushotham says her instructional assistant has been instrumental in helping her in the classroom, giving her ideas on how she can do her lessons.

“My instructional assistant has been in kindergarten forever at Horrell Hill. She’s been really helpful. She was always like ‘This is one way we’ve done this before’ and ‘If you want to do it a different way, we can do it differently.’ She would offer ideas about what works and what doesn’t,” she said.

Purushotham says the most memorable moment from her first year at Horrell Hill was when the students made snow.

“We were talking about weather and a lot of the students said they had never seen snow. Right before Winter Break, we made snow in class and the students got to make little snowmen,” she said.

Purushotham says being named Induction Teacher of the Year was a surprise, but it showed that her hard work during her first year did not go unnoticed.

“I felt very grateful to receive the award. It’s nice that other people see how hard we’re working at Horrell Hill,” she said.

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