CAMMY TORGENRUD

5/10/2020

TECHNOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY | CTORG@YORK.ORG

The Brain Guru

You might say that Cammy Torgenrud hasn’t come far in life: it’s only eight miles from the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where she was born, to York School. However, wise people evaluate a life’s journey not by the distance traveled but rather the events experienced and people touched. Although “Mrs. Torg” (as she’s known to the students) remains near her birthplace, the events of her life are worth recounting.

Cammy attended Stanford, where she majored in Psychology and English. She thinks her teachers there would describe her as “a person who checked all the boxes and played it safe, but was still creative.” During her junior year, she decided to follow her mother, who had a doctorate and taught at Santa Clara University, into the teaching profession. In order to pursue this vocation, Cammy remained at Stanford to earn a Master of Arts in Education. She has been teaching ever since.

After getting her Masters degree, she returned to the Monterey Peninsula and joined the faculty at Santa Catalina School. After seven years there, she moved across Highway 68 to York School. She came to York because the faculty and student body here celebrate the individual, accept people as they are, and have high standards. Her favorite class to teach is psychology, and she is interested in the intersection of technology and neuroscience.

For over two decades at York, Cammy has performed a wide array of duties outside the classroom. In the sporting realm, she served as the girls assistant tennis coach and advisor for the now-defunct sailing club. In academia, she has served as the Dean of Faculty, Humanities Department Chair, Faculty Representative to the Board of Trustees, and as a member of the admission committee, the last for fifteen years. Like so many York teachers do during their tenure, she has expanded her original skill set. Cammy has added significant technological aptitude and has long been a leader among faculty in coordinating academic technologies here at York.

When not educating the leaders of tomorrow at York, Cammy enjoys traveling, photography, and environmental causes such as beach clean-ups. She engages in anti-rodent bricklaying, building deep walls designed to protect her garden from encroaching gophers. She also likes to spend time in Big Sur.

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