Nikki Evans is Caston School Corp’s new career coach for grades 8-12. InkFreeNews Photo by Leah Sander.
Written by Leah Sander
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FULTON — Nikki Evans said she’s helping students prepare for the “real world” through her new role.
Evans, a Rochester resident, is Caston School Corporation’s new career coach for grades 8-12.
The school created the position this year to meet Indiana’s new requirement that high school students meet with school officials at least once about college and career plans.
Caston students were already relying on guidance counselors for that, but the career coach position frees up the counselors to focus on other work, Evans said.
Caston partnered with several organizations to obtain grants to cover Evans’ position.
She is from Nyona Lake and is a Kaston graduate herself.
Although Evans did not initially plan on a career in education, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University. However, her plans changed and she pursued a master’s degree in education and teaching.
Evans has been teaching for 20 years.
“I’ve been back at Kaston for eight or nine years now, teaching English, social studies, science and a variety of other things,” she said. “This opportunity has come up, and it looks like it’s going to be really interesting.”
“Part of my role is to help the kids make some decisions in advance so they know what they want and are ready to go when they leave here. , to help them find their own path,” Evans said. .
Evans works with Caston’s career guidance counselors and Caston Junior and Senior High School Principal Gina Hielmeier to prepare the children for their futures.
“We are also working with our new business teacher, Lindsey Brubaker,” Evans said. “She’s also the head of the internship and actually just teaching a lot of things related to this.”
Mr Evans said the company has a number of university visits planned for students and opportunities for students who are not eligible for post-secondary education.
“We have a lot of kids who aren’t going to college, and that’s OK,” Evans said. “We try to make sure kids know that they don’t necessarily have to go to a four-year college to be successful, and we give them opportunities like internships and job shadowing.”
Kaston will hold a college and career fair for high school students on Wednesday, October 23rd.
“We’re really trying to (attract) Fulton County (businesses) because Cass (County) has its own businesses in the spring when we come,” Evans said. Ta.
She said that through her work as a career coach, she hopes to help students gain “confidence.”
Evans said she helped the student land an internship at a local hospital and saw the girl’s “face light up.”
“She was excited and said, ‘This is what I want to do,'” Evans said.
“For some kids, high school is just a monotonous school that they have to go through to get where they want to go. So when they see the light at the end of the tunnel and see something outside. “When you get to ‘what’s happening here, it’s great,'” Evans added.
She is not the only member of her family to work at Caston, as she is married to Chuck Evans, principal of Caston Junior and Senior High School.
They have been married for 24 years and have five children and seven grandchildren.
