Nikki McCarty and her family consider the Urbana Library their second home. In fact, it’s where McCarty’s younger son took his first steps and said his first words.
The mom of two teaches English and language arts at Oakdale Middle School. She grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland, and then lived in Minnesota before moving back to her home state in 2018.
Now, she lives in Urbana with her husband and two sons, Thomas (9) and Jeremy (6). She is one of two Den leaders for Thomas’ Scouts troop.
What do you enjoy most about teaching?
I’ve been a teacher for 15 years, and I think throughout it there are days and things that are really challenging. Why I love it and need to go back every year is watching the students grow. Students come in the beginning of the [school] year and by the end of the year, every single student has grown in some capacity. In my job, a lot of times that looks like growth as a reader or writer, but a lot of times, it’s more their growth and their confidence in themselves. This is really beautiful to see, especially at the middle school level.
Also, I’m an English teacher, and so I like to geek out over books and hear about what they think about the book they’re reading and what books they’re enjoying. That’s an added bonus: I get to talk about books, which is fun.
How does your background as a teacher influence how you parent?
As an adult, I’ve always been a teacher, and I have not always been a parent, but I do think being a parent has changed how I’ve taught. I actually think my expectations [of my students] went up after becoming a parent because I know I want teachers to have high expectations of my kids. I also feel like my empathy towards not only students but their families has gone up because I understand that, as a parent, I always want what’s best for my child; I’m always trying my hardest to push them. … I feel like since becoming a parent, I’ve become a much better teacher.
How do you balance being a working mom with raising two young boys?
I once read this beautiful metaphor that it’s not about balance, because balance assumes that it’s even. It’s about juggling balls. Some of those balls are glass balls, and some of those balls are rubber balls. There’s certain ones that if you drop, it’ll shatter; those things are really important, like my love for my children, the safety of my students, my overall happiness, my whole-family happiness. Then, there are things like rubber balls that if you drop—if you don’t meet a deadline or whatever—it’s OK, it’s going to bounce back. Keeping that metaphor in mind is how I’m able to balance it.
There are some seasons of life where we eat a home-cooked meal every single night and I’m on top of my grades and all of that. There’s lots of seasons of life where maybe I’m three days behind on grading but my lesson plans are really good. Maybe we’re sitting down as a family every night but we’re eating frozen veggies and chicken nuggets, but that’s OK because the things I value and that are important I’m still doing, and things that can bounce back later, I’ll get to that.
What do you like about living in Frederick?
We had stumbled upon Urbana; we just had such a quick move out here. We moved for my husband’s job, and we stumbled upon Urbana and Frederick County. We feel so grateful to live here because all of the services are amazing. I mentioned the library. The hiking trails are incredible; the Frederick County Parks and Rec is so well organized with great leadership. Our kids do sports through it. We’re involved in Scouts as well; that has really become a big community focus for us.
How do you wind down after a long day?
I’m really lucky that my family and I all enjoy the same hobbies; we do a lot of the same things. After school, my kids and I love to go to the Urbana Library; we can actually walk there, which is amazing. We love to walk to the library as a family. We’re avid readers, so we enjoy reading a book series together or all reading our own thing. We also love to be outdoors. We take a lot of walks around our neighborhood, or on the weekend, travel to local hikes.
Family Favorites
Food: Make-your-own tacos
Dessert: Ice cream
Local place: Urbana Library
Family activity: Hiking at Sugarloaf Mountain
