Three of North Platte’s new teachers are heading into their second term.
Charlene Blackburn grew up in Texas, but she came to North Platte from Pavillion, Wyoming. She came to North Platte to be closer to her son, daughter- and her two grandkids.
This is her fifteenth year teaching high school special education. She became a special education teacher because she had a friend that was one and subbed in her class a lot. Then she was a special ed peer educator.
The teachers she worked with encouraged her to go back to school and get her teaching degree in special education.
Blackburn has a master’s in special education and another master’s in vision impairment and autism, along with a bachelor’s degree in geology. Her daughter and son-in-law live in Wyoming, and her son and daughter- and grandkids live in North Platte.
Some of her favorite hobbies are singing and country- western dancing. She has dogs and cats and her favorite food is Mexican.
Bobby Cahill has lived in North Platte since he was three years old and also graduated from North Platte.
Cahill wasn’t a teacher at first. In 2016 he started a wrestling program in Brady and coached for two years. After working with kids and watching them grow, it made him curious as to what other opportunities there were.
He just had gotten his bachelor’s degree in business. Brady had a business opening for teaching business.
He entered the transition to teaching program through the University of Nebraska at Kearney so he could teach and also be going to school at the same time. Then he came back to North Platte this year and is teaching computers and business.
“I just love watching kids grow,” Cahill said.
He is married and his wife works at NPHS as a mental health counselor. They have three children together.
Outside of work, he likes to go golfing and also likes woodwork. His favorite food is Chinese or steak. Something he and his family do all the time together and enjoy is traveling.
Amanda Crow is married and has two kids and a stepdaughter. Before coming to NPHS, she worked at Mid-Plains Community College in the office and did a lot of different administrative duties. She came to NPHS to teach freshmen English, because she wanted to do something with her life that would make a difference. This is her first her teaching.
Crow already has her bachelor’s and a master’s degree, so she just has a few more teaching classes that she needs to take and is taking those classes with the transitional program through UNK.
A few hobbies Crow has are baking, gardening, and also painting. Her favorite thing she has baked is homemade cinnamon rolls. She loves chocolate and likes comedy and detective warrior-type shows.
