Arkansas Teacher Corps fellow Nneka Love (ATC ’19) was recently featured in the newest teacher profile of the I Am A Rural Teacher campaign, “Inspiring teacher resilience through mentorship”. She discusses how she came to the teaching profession, her experiences with the Arkansas Teacher Corps program, the power of coaching and mentoring teachers, the importance of building relationships and a sense of belonging in a new place, and her advice for new teachers.

Building up educator resilience is as critical to easing the ongoing rural teacher shortage as inspiring and recruiting new generations of passionate teachers. Education is a difficult profession, and the last three years have been particularly challenging for teachers. Nevertheless, across the country dedicated rural teachers are making intentional choices to remain committed to the people and places they serve, such as Nneka Love, a Kindergarten teacher entering her fifth year at the Anna Strong Learning Academy in Marianna, AR.

Nneka says, “We have good days and we have not-so-good days, but anytime my students are learning and I see that light bulb, it makes me feel like I’m doing something.”

The I Am A Rural Teacher Podcast is a shared project of Rural Schools Collaborative and the National Rural Education Association that features outstanding rural educators across the globe. Arkansas Teacher Corps partners with the Rural Community Alliance to serve as the Rural Schools Collaborative’s Arkansas & Delta Regional Hub.