Igniting the flame.
Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.
Today’s WCW title belongs to Christina Nakano, who’s love for children lead her to become a passionate preschool teacher in the South Bay.
Nakano, 29, was born and raised in the South Bay. Nakano says that she always knew she wanted to be a teacher. “There was no other option in my mind. When I was young, I would set up school in my backyard and teach whoever would listen,” she says.
However, when she was in the fifth grade, her teacher, Mr. Barker, really solidified her dream to teach. “He made learning interactive and fun. It was in his class, that I decided that I wanted to teach and make it as fun as possible,” she says.
Today, she is currently working for the Redondo Beach Unified School District as a Preschool Teacher at the Lincoln Child Development Center. Her room is comprised of 19 energetic, open-minded, hilarious 3 and 4 year olds.
She says that the best part of teaching children this age is witnessing their sense of awe on a daily basis. “Each and every day they are being exposed to new ideas and discovering new things about the world around them,” she says.
The most challenging thing she has found is dealing with the expectations people have for young children and education today. She says that many of the children she teaches have never been in a school setting with unfamiliar adults and children around and on top of that Mom and Dad are at work.
She imagines that it is overwhelming to a child. She sees that parents and administration expect the children to get used to a school setting; learn their alphabet and how to function in society as a respectable human being.
“It’s bananas. As an adult, I would probably lose it. Yet, so much focus is on these standards that we have to meet and hopefully each child can keep up,” she says. What upsets her the most is that she believes it isn’t fair, so she tries to focus on letting her students be children first and foremost.
When Nakano is not juggling 19 energetic kids at school, she is juggling her own two children and being a wife. She says, “Oh man, being a full time teacher, a mother of two and a wife is CRAZY. It’s the hardest and most rewarding part of my life.”
However, because work is fun for her, she doesn’t consider it “work,” and says that makes all the difference. In addition to truly loving what she does, she feels very lucky in the fact that her daughter is able to attend the preschool she works at. Nakano says, “She is in another room, but we are able to spend time together during my work day that I might otherwise miss out on.”
Nakano pays it forward to the community by teaching her students about recycling, gardening and how to care for our Earth. Each year, her class collects recyclables and sort them. They also have a preschool garden where they use it to teach the children about plants and healthy eating.
Throughout the year, she and her students go on neighborhood walks and pick up any trash they see. She says, “If I can start healthy eating habits young and make sure the children care for their home and community, then I’ve planted a seed that will only flourish with time.”
When she is not working, she enjoys relaxing at home with her family or going to the beach. On top of being a full-time teacher, mother and wife, she also had managed to include studying on her very busy schedule and is currently finishing her BA through Vanguard University online.
She would like anyone who’s thinking of becoming a preschool teacher to know, “You MUST have patience. Each day is very different and I never fail to smile and laugh at work but when 16+ children want your attention at any given time you can easily get frustrated.”
Nakano loves the South Bay simply because, “We literally have it all.” She says, “We have amazing weather. I can wake up and head to the mountains if I want to, or to the beach or BOTH. We have great restaurants, great night life, amazing parks and the freeway is around every corner it seems like. We are very lucky to live in such a well-rounded community.”
Thank you, Mrs. Nakano, for being a positive light in our future generation’s life and teaching them to be more than just a great student in class, but a greater person outside. You are an asset to the South Bay community.
“As long as a child has an interest in learning, they will learn. Burn them out and that flame
will have to work 5x as hard to be reignited.”
– Christina Nakano