By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Eastwood High School science teacher Nikki Sabo has a knack for making students feel seen, heard and appreciated.
She provides basic school supplies in one corner of her classroom where students who may have lost or forgotten a pencil or paper can pick it up without judgment.
She is known for teaching science with as many hands-on activities as possible to deepen the learning of sometimes tough science concepts.
She has a soft spot for the students with special needs, advocating for them and working closely with their teachers and paraprofessionals.
Throughout the year, she gets to know her students outside of the science classroom by attending extracurricular events from arts to sports. And as a former collegiate track athlete turned high school girls track coach for 14 years, Sabo fostered close bonds with her high school track athletes.
She doesn’t see herself as any different than most K-12 teachers, but someone whose life she has touched thought enough to nominate her for National Life Group’s LifeChanger of the Year Award. The annual award program recognizes K-12 educators and school employees who make a significant difference in students’ lives by exemplifying excellence, positive influence and leadership.
Sabo wasn’t a national finalist, but the anonymous nomination still touched her. She doesn’t know if the nominator was a current or former student or possibly a parent of a student who benefited from Sabo’s teaching and caring skills.
The nominator described her and her teaching as encouraging, accountable and professional. “Throughout her career, she has taken on many roles to positively impact her students. … and is a LifeChanger in the Eastwood Local School District Community,” her nominator wrote.
She grew up in the Sandusky area in a family full of teachers. She was a track star at Perkins High School and was recruited to the Bowling Green State University track and field team, where she competed in long jump and triple jump.
Initially she was a pre-med biology student who had been accepted to Wright State University Medical School. Her path changed when working as a BGSU tutor everyone she was tutoring mistook her for an education major because she was a good teacher/tutor.
So she opted to follow in her family’s education footsteps, added an education degree to her biology degree, completed her student teaching in the Maumee schools and took her first job in Berea City Schools before she married Brian Sabo and moved back to northwest Ohio.
The change in career paths turned out for the better. She’s been teaching at Eastwood for more than 20 years, first in the middle school and high school, and later exclusively in the high school teaching general science, chemistry, biology and honors biology.
She encourages her students and holds them accountable for their actions, emphasizing the importance of a strong work ethic, according to the nomination.
“Because every student is going to be different, I try to be adaptable. Ultimately the goal is to help them understand the information,” she said about her teaching style “I try to model what I expect from my students as far as manners, trust, listening and talking.”
Those are the skills they will need as they move from school to jobs and beyond, she said. “Society is a lot of interacting with people, so you’ve got to learn to interact and work with people,” which she incorporates into her classroom.
“She is dedicated to improving her teaching by continually learning new strategies and understanding how to support students with special needs,” her nominator said. “She demonstrates flexibility and collaboration with her colleagues who work with special needs students, effectively communicating and advocating for those in need.“
Sabo works closely with the special needs teachers and paraprofessionals to keep them informed about what is going on with their students in her classrooms. It’s difficult for special needs students to get to all the classrooms when they have over 40 students on their caseload.
“I think communication between the regular ed teacher and special ed teacher is huge, so I email them daily. This is what we did in class. Here are the notes we took, and here are the activities. They need to know that information,” she said. “I can’t imagine trying to figure out what’s going on in 40 different classrooms, so I’m able to let them know ahead of time.” She also often will handle accommodations as needed.
Not only is she well-suited to teaching science, she also found a niche in coaching, mostly girls’ track.
“Her influence on her student-athletes is remarkable,” according to the nomination. “So much so that former students continue to reach out to her for guidance and support even long after graduation.”
Sabo admitted it was hard to connect with all 60 members of the track team on an individual basis. Her solution was to create booklets with weekly questions that she asked the girls to fill out. “Girls might not tell you that something is up, but they’ll write about it,” she said. “The questions could be about anything, like ‘What is something that made you proud of yourself?’”
Each week, Sabo would spend the time reading their booklets and add notes to their writings. “That was a way for me to get to know them or to know that something was going on. They felt heard and seen,” she said.
She retired from coaching track after their daughter Julia graduated from Eastwood and joined the track team at Eastern Michigan University.
“I wanted to have that flexibility to be able to go watch her. I still volunteer for the high school team, but it gives me that flexibility to be a mom,” she said.
Sabo also gives back to the community and is an active leader in various events, including the Eastwood Athletic Booster Club. She will oversee the scheduling of the boosters this summer when they provide the personnel at the Wood County Fair gates.
“That’s one of our big fundraisers for the Eastwood Athletic Boosters. So this year I’m taking that over as far as organizing,” she said, adding, “I have a great group of people to help me as far as on the committee, but it is a big task.
She wishes she could thank the person who nominated her for the award. “It was nice to know that somebody does recognize what you’re doing and notices the time and effort that you give,” she said. It was humbling, but appreciative because sometimes we’re highly praised, sometimes we’re not. And to know that others notice the time and effort and energy that you’re giving to students and to their kids is very appreciative.”
