Nicole McCain is a kindergarten teacher at Waynesville R-VI
Nicole McCain has taught kindergarteners for three years, but in her heart, she’s been a teacher her entire life. The Waynesville native grew up in the Pulaski County community and had great role models as a kid, she says — but it was more than that. As she puts it: “I know that teaching is what I was made to do and it is not just a career for me, but a huge blessing!”
She answered that call in high school by working at a local daycare. In college, McCain was a member of Ozarks Teacher Corps, a CFO program that provides scholarships and training to future teachers who commit to teaching in a rural district for three years.
“I had a huge sense of security and support through the team that absolutely carried me to the finish line of my degree,” McCain says of the Teacher Corps. “I got to experience amazing workshops with other vested, retired and experienced educators and take their advice and practices with me into the classroom.”
McCain has already paid that experience forward as a member of the Rural Schools Collaborative’s Emergent Educators Advisory Council. The cohort, comprising nine rural educators early in their careers, advises the RSC.
Though early into her career, her experience with the advisory council and the relationships she’s built are shaping her personal mission: making a difference for people.
“It is hard when kids struggle outside of school, whether it be rough home lives or the literal unknowns they go through,” McCain says, but notes a key factor is her ability to care for them consistently. “So many things are outside of my control as an educator, but the kids I teach are my priority. I know that the opportunity I have with them is to be the consistency and love they all need.
“Every child is spectacular and so, so amazing in their own way and it makes my heart soar!”
Who inspires you? Send your suggestions of individuals moving the needle in your community to Kaitlyn McConnell, the CFO’s writer in residence, at kmcconnell@cfozarks.org.
