June 19, 2015
Partnership East Made it Possible for Nikki Manning to Become a Teacher
The moment you walk into Nikki Manning’s first grade classroom, you get the feeling something exciting is going to happen. Nikki teaches at Benvenue Elementary School in Rocky Mount, NC. She landed a job with Nash-Rocky Mount schools immediately after graduating from East Carolina University in December, 2012 and she says she loves the classroom. Her kids love her too! According to Denise, one of the first graders I met while visiting the school, “Ms. Manning makes us so happy! She is the best teacher I’ve ever had.”
Nikki’s mother cared for children in her home while Nikki was young. Many of her clients were teachers, which gave Nikki the opportunity to help out in classrooms at an early age. While completing an internship in high school, she decided that she, too, wanted to be a teacher.
She found SECU Partnership East to be exactly what she needed to complete her degree while working two jobs. Nikki says attending Nash Community College and then completing junior and senior coursework at ECU gave her the flexibility she needed to pursue her dream of teaching. “I highly recommend Partnership East to everyone I can. It is truly a great program and I feel that it more than prepared me as an educator. The great instructors, advisors, and supervisors surely made the process that much more enjoyable, too!” 