CATINA CAIN, Assistant Principal
Q: What’s your educational background?
A: I have a bachelor’s of arts in language and international trade, and that basically means I majored in international business and Spanish at Clemson University. I have a masters in business from Clemson University, a law degree from the University of North Carolina, and a masters in supervision and administration from North Carolina Central University.
Q: What’s one impact you want to make on students?
A: I’m a lifelong learner. I have always loved education. That’s really what we want to teach you all, instill in the next generation that [we are] free thinkers. Education drives that development, that thought process, and it all starts with a kid just deciding “I want to learn, I want to keep learning, I want to keep that spark alive.”
Q: If you weren’t a teacher what would you be?
A: Prior to becoming an educator, I actually had the great fortune of having multiple careers. To me, I think that has been of value for me.
Q: Did something spark your love for teaching when you were little?
A: I was a teacher cadet in high school. I was always there advocating for my son, so it drove me to think about the kids who don’t have somebody like me advocating for their child. I needed to be a part of the solution, which is what led me to want to be an educator.
Q: How do you motivate students?
A: I had to develop relationships [with my students] and one of the first things I did, was I started relationship building with students. That was helping me to develop the tools that I needed so when it was time for us to play games, to do interesting things, show videos, and to develop my lesson plans. It was around what the kids liked. It worked so well because I found myself having less behavior issues.
Q: What made you come to this school district or this school?
A: We have always lived in Raleigh. I just always taught in Durham. In terms of Wakefield, one of the things that was of interest to me was the video the students did. It’s a video that the students and faculty did here called “It’s all about the W”. That piqued my interest and I started looking at the school improvement plan. When I looked at the school improvement plan it said “We are focused on equity”.
Q: Do you have a favorite show or movie?
A: I’m going to be honest. I am a reality show junkie. I love reality TV. So any of the reality shows. It’s fun to watch the shows and try to discern which ones seem real versus being staged.