In honor of World Teachers' Day on Saturday, The Conversation concludes its weeklong salute to impactful teachers with a visit to Hawaiʻi Island.
Wendy Nickl, a registrar and teacher at Kohala Middle School, is in her 39th year at Hawaiʻi Island public schools.
She grew up in Hilo and attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa on Oʻahu. While in college, she got a part-time job at an after-school program and discovered her passion for working with students.
"I never thought I wanted to become a teacher. I thought I would go into a literary career, or maybe even a law career because I was an English major. And then when I worked with students, I was like, 'Oh, I kind of like this,'" Nickl said.
She started as a sixth-grade teacher at Waimea Elementary in 1986. The Conversation's Russell Subiono was just 10 years old when he stepped into her first class nearly 40 years ago.
"She was energetic and personable and hip to the times, and it was in her classroom that I first began to embrace my storytelling dreams," he recalled. They recently crossed paths for the first time in over 15 years at a surprise reunion in Kona.
He remembered how Nickl took extra time to get to know each student.
"Every individual deserves respect. And also it was first-year teacher like desperately trying to keep you guys all involved and really into what we were doing," Nickl said.
She said that even though teachers don't make enough money in Hawaiʻi, her love for working with students has kept her in education all these years.
"Kids always need a trusted adult that they can talk to. And I love middle school, like I went from elementary up to middle school, it's my home for life, for the rest of my teaching career," Nickl said.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 2, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
