Nhatisha Sturgis: “I care about them and their differences.”

Originally from Norwalk, Connecticut, I moved in 1999 to Greenville, North Carolina after a tour in the U.S. Navy. I completed studies in Social Work at Barton College in Wilson, NC. The paternal side of my family still lives in Connecticut, and the maternal side resides in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

In 2010, my children and I moved to Charlotte, and we love it here. I’ve served Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools for a total of eight years, including my experience as a long-term substitute in a middle-school science class, and as a financial secretary assistant. For the past four years, I’ve been a full-time teacher in the AU self-contained program at Oakdale Elementary.

I’m a single mother; two of my five children attend college, one attends high school and struggles with academics due to her autism, one attends middle school, and one has just begun kindergarten.

Before moving to Charlotte, I never saw myself as an educator, as my passions lay in behavioral health and social work. When it was difficult to find employment in social services, I began working as a substitute teacher and encountered children in middle grades who couldn’t read, or even add two-digit numbers. I used some strategies that I’d used with my children at home, and they worked for these students.

I found that my students wanted to work when they realized that I care about them and their differences. How could I not want to help create structure for, and teach, children who will be our future? As I began to see more students with special needs, who hadn’t been correctly placed and who struggled like my daughter, I knew I wanted to help, even if my help was minute.

One of my students couldn’t speak, couldn’t even attempt to verbalize a word. We practiced with mouth movements every day, and when that student began to say, “Mom,” I knew this was the right place for me. 

Another one of my students couldn’t name colors, and rarely spoke. But when I taught a lesson on tornadoes, he understood it, and began coming to school every day asking, “Where is the tormadoes (spellers how he said it)?”

More examples like these reinforce that I’m in the right place and doing the right thing.

I’m new to CMAE, so I’ve not had direct interaction with my professional organization yet, but I want to become an integral part, and be able to support other educators.

#phenomenallyurs