Empowering Educators - Mrs. Cassandra Holliday

Meet Mrs. Cassandra Holliday: 2nd Grade Teacher at North Elementary School; Environmentalist, and World Traveler 

Mrs. Cassandra Holliday is a second grade teacher at North Elementary School in Okeechobee, Florida. This is Mrs. Holliday's second year of teaching. Immediately after being hired, Mrs. Holliday's unique teaching style was noticed by her administration, and she was named the North Elementary School 1st Year Teacher of the Year - a title which she will be passing on in the upcoming weeks.

Mrs. Holliday stated that since she understood what teaching was, she remembers wanting to be a teacher. She talked about her childhood, and how she, being the oldest child in the family, often played school with her siblings. Mrs. Holliday talked about her grandparents who have had a huge impact on her life, and how they guided her to find a profession that would allow her to have a substantial income and flexibility in life. Under the guidance of her grandparents, Mrs. Holliday was toying around with the idea of becoming a criminal prosecutor, but life just took a different route - and always centered around children in one way or another. Starting at age 12, Mrs. Holliday had several babysitting opportunities. Later, she helped with high school drama classes, and also assisted teachers as an after school volunteer by help teachers do things for their classrooms. Later, when enrolled at Florida State University, Mrs. Holliday signed up to be a tutor to serve the unique needs of the population in the area. Mrs. Holliday stated that in her 20s, she had the epiphany that her experiences have paved a path for her to be a teacher - a career that she now enjoys.

Mrs. Holliday is a good match to a classroom setting as she has a good understanding of her students and families in general. Having studied human psychology and worked for New Horizons as a counselor, it was further confirmed that teaching is the "thing" for her. She now enjoys the connections that she has with her students, and the challenge of empowering each and every one of her students in ways that set them up for success. Mrs. Holliday described teaching as molding minds: "I am not here to tell them what to think, but how to think". She talked about students asking deeper questions, and reaching the moment where they get excited about something that they did not know before.

Today, Mrs. Holliday is content with her career choices, as she has the opportunity to have an impact on her students' lives. She said: "You cannot change the world, but you can change each child. You can spark their interest in something that is important to them". In addition to teaching 2nd grade, Mrs. Holliday is now tutoring the 4th and 5th grade students during the after school tutoring session, with hopes to increase her impact on students at NES.

When talking about the profession of teaching in general, Mrs. Holliday compared teaching in America and New Zealand, the homeland of her husband Ivan. She spoke about the changed perceptions, and how she feels that teaching has become undervalued across many nations. She spoke about the teacher salaries, and the huge discrepancies of salaries between America and New Zealand where teachers are paid significantly less when considering the cost of living. Mrs. Holliday called our current situation as a crisis in education, but concluded enthusiastically that at the end of the day, we do not do it for money; and those who have a passion for it, make it work.

Outside of her classroom, Mrs. Holliday has a great passion for outdoors, and she is an avid traveler. She has lived in four different countries, and traveled to twenty five others. Her pursuit is to take on the National Parks system in the United States, and she has already visited 23 of the 60 parks. Mrs. Holliday said that having these rich experiences makes her a better teacher. She is not limited to disseminating the information that she has learned from others; rather, she can now share information from her own experiences.



At North Elementary School, Mrs. Holliday is well known for her abundant knowledge about various animals. Earlier this year, she helped a group of kindergarten students and teachers to be safe from a snake that had sneaked into our campus. Mrs. Holliday said that she is used to handling various animals, including snakes, as she grew up with lots of animals at home. She said that they had horses, emu, Guinea pigs, a talking parrot, snakes, and even a zebra. At one point, she stated, her family was in the process of building an island in the middle of a large pond to be able to have monkeys, but they ended up moving prior to the conclusion of the project.

Her life experiences with animals give Mrs. Holliday an interesting insight to the surrounding nature. She said that handling animals becomes naturally to her, and she appreciates the value of each living organism. Mrs. Holliday and her husband are into permaculture - a set of principles that are centered around the whole-system thinking. In simple words, it emphasizes the importance of everything working together in harmony. Mrs. Holliday explains that practicing horticulture is quite difficult here in Florida as the climate is very hard. Her and her husband have experimented with planting various plants and raising small animals, but their work was largely destroyed during the hurricane Irma. She stated enthusiastically that they are building it all up again, and she enjoys talking about the importance of creating harmony in what she does, to her students as well.

Mrs. Holliday and he husband also enjoy diving, and when they plan upcoming trips, the ability to dive at these locations is a determining factor when choosing the destination. Mrs. Holliday is genuinely interested in our world, and the things that are in it. In the world that evolves around tablets and smart phones, Mrs. Holliday has been able to get her students hooked on great outdoors as well - each year (depending on the group of students), from a different angle. Last year, Mrs. Holliday said, her students were very science-minded. They enjoyed learning about reducing the human impact in the nature. They even had their classroom compost bin that they later emptied into the school butterfly garden. This year, Mrs. Holliday said her students are more social sciences oriented, and they are more interested in travel and the world in general. No matter what the angle, Mrs. Holliday is happy to lead discussions in class that are not only driven by the curriculum, but also support students' natural inquiries in their learning. When someone walks into Mrs. Holliday's classroom at any given time, they will find references to various enrichment activities that give students an opportunity to deepen their learning and become more genuinely engaged in their learning process.

Even though Mrs. Holliday is just at the beginning of her teaching career, she is already thinking ahead and worrying about her students' future. With emotion, she stated that she hopes for the very best for each and every one of her former students, and wishes that they will be able to reach their full potential - no matter what they decide to do.

Dr. Tuuli Robinson
Educator and Lifelong Learner

Travel photos provided by Mrs. Holliday