It was the summer of 1996, and Katie was nine years old. Old enough to know that summer was supposed to mean fun, not school. But a third-grade dyslexia diagnosis had brought her to Hamlin Robinson School’s summer program. Admittedly, she was annoyed at having to give up summertime play. Yet after a few weeks, that summer became the time everything shifted.

Now a Trustee on the Hamlin Robinson School Board, Katie Burgess remembers what it feels like to be the kid who is scared.

A third-grade dyslexia diagnosis left her full of doubt and afraid — unsure if something was wrong with her, feeling “stupid,” and wanting to hide it all. Until

HRS changed everything.

Sitting in her summer classroom, Katie experienced a sense of joy for learning she had never felt before. A feeling that she belonged. And that fall, she agreed to attend HRS full time.

For the first time since kindergarten, Katie felt free. From the moment she stepped into her Slingerland^® class, something clicked. “Oh, this is fun!” she remembers thinking. No fear, no hiding, no performing. Just learning. She was surrounded by

kids like her, in a classroom where nobody made her feel broken or ‘stupid.’ “I remember that I actually got to learn about the topic versus being scared about reading a paragraph out loud.”

Hamlin Robinson School helped dispel the insecurity, frustration, and avoidance coping mechanisms she had developed in public school. For a kid who had spent years bracing herself just to get through a school day, this was everything.

Attending fourth and fifth grades, Katie said, “HRS really met me where I was at.” The school taught valuable skills for daily life, even on the playground. “It was transformational…it created a space that felt so safe, and I felt empowered to learn and that I could help to address my learning difference.”

It wasn’t all easy, however. Katie remembers struggling with her confidence and identity during these formative years. Between ages 9 and 11, she focused on feeling different, left out, and behind rather than “blossoming into [one’s] truer adult and human” like her peers. She encountered shame and remembers being nervous to tell friends she attended HRS.

With hindsight, she is deeply grateful for her time at HRS. She was not only learning foundational academics but also how to learn in a way that worked with her dyslexia, not against it. Now, Katie embraces her difference, calling dyslexia “my superpower.”

Her connections to HRS include being a former student of current Head of School Stacy Turner when he taught fourth grade. She recalls a lesson encouraging students to seek help from one another when challenges arose. This created “an incredible space where I felt safe and encouraged to step out and take risks,” she said. “I learned that failure is not failing — it’s just learning something new.”

HRS never left Katie’s heart. So, when she moved back to Seattle in 2014, reconnecting felt natural. “HRS is the first establishment that really invested in me and knew that I was somebody who could make an impact in the world,” she said.

That gratitude led her to accept an invitation to join the HRS Board of Trustees. “If I can give even a sliver back to Stacy and the school that they gave me, then that feels really meaningful,” she said.

Katie’s hope for every student who walks through HRS’s doors is simple, that “the confidence you may have lost is restored and healed. That your dyslexia is not a burden or something to hide. It’s your superpower waiting to be understood. Lean into it. Learn it. Know where you need support, because we all do. And never stop reaching for your highest goals. I hope you and your parents feel a sense of relief coming to Hamlin Robinson School, just as I did.”