Nikki Evans is the new Caston School Corp. career coach for grades 8-12. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

FULTON — Nikki Evans said she’s helping students get ready for “the real world” through her new role.

Evans, of Rochester, is the new career coach for grades 8-12 at Caston School Corp.

The school created the position this year to help meet a new Indiana requirement that high school students have at least one meeting with a school staff member about college and career planning.

Caston students were already relying on their guidance counselors for that, but the career coach position frees up the counselors to focus on other tasks, said Evans.

Caston has partnered with several groups to get grant funding to pay for Evans’ position.

She’s originally from Nyona Lake and is a Caston graduate herself.

Evans first didn’t plan for an educational career, getting her bachelor’s degree in biology from Indiana University; however, her plans changed, and she got her master’s in education and teaching certification.

Evans has taught for 20 years.

“I’ve been back at Caston eight or nine years teaching various things, English, social studies, science,” she noted. “This opportunity came open, and it just looked like something that would be really interesting.”

“Part of my role is to help kids maybe make some decisions ahead of time, help them find their path to kind of get an idea of what they want to do so that when they leave here, they are ready to roll,” said Evans.

Evans is working with Caston’s guidance counselors and Caston Junior-Senior High School Assistant Principal Gina Hierlmeier in preparing kids for their futures.

“We’re also working with Lindsay Brubaker, who is our new business teacher,” said Evans. “She’s in charge of internships, and she is also just teaching a lot of things that just really connect to this.”

Evans said the corporation has a number of college visits planned for students, and opportunities for those who won’t have post-secondary education.

“We have a lot of kids that are not college-bound, and that’s fine,” said Evans. “We try to let kids know that you don’t have to necessarily go to a four-year college to be successful, so giving them opportunities, like internships, job shadowing.”

Caston is hosting a college and career fair on Wednesday, Oct. 23, for its high school students.

“We’re really trying to focus on (bringing in) Fulton County (businesses) because Cass (County) has their own in the spring that we go to,” said Evans.

She said she hopes she can help students gain “confidence” through her job of career coach.

Evans noted she helped a student get an internship at a local hospital, and the girl’s “face (lit) up,” she said.

“She was excited because she’s like, ‘This is what I want to do,’” said Evans.

”For some of these kids, high school is just a necessary monotonous thing they have to go through to get to where they want to go, and so when they can kind of see that light at the end of the tunnel and see something outside of here happening, that’s a neat thing,” added Evans.

She’s not the only one in her family who works at Caston as she’s married to Caston Junior-Senior High School Principal Chuck Evans.

They’ve been married 24 years and have five children and seven grandchildren.