Middletown Prairie Elementary Social Worker Nancy Cosner prepares for retirement

By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com

Before Nancy Cosner started educating school children, she took care of her own education.

Not all of Cosner’s learning took place in a classroom.

“My initial career was as a dance therapist,” she said.

Cosner earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Illinois Wesleyan University.

“I had no career plans when I went to IWU,” Cosner said. “I simply wanted to learn and explore.”

Her dance background, which includes ballet, modern dance, Eastern European folk dancing and clogging,  led to a different path as she pursued her master’s degree.

“A degree in dance therapy seemed the ideal way to combine my two interests,” Cosner said.

After completing work on her master’s degree from New York University, she entered the workforce.

“I worked for 10 years on an adult psychiatric unit at St. Francis Hospital, on Long Island, until the unit closed,” Cosner said.

An Ashland (Ill.) native and the daughter of a fourth-grade teacher, Cosner’s next job was as a dance therapist at Little Village School, on Long Island.

“I worked there for 11 years with 3-6-year-olds with special needs,” Cosner said.

Meanwhile, she continued her schooling and earned another master’s degree, one in social work, from New York University in 2000. That set her up for a position in the Mahomet-Seymour School District.

“My marriage in 2001 brought me out to Illinois to live with my husband and that’s when I was fortunate enough to be hired to work at Middletown,” Cosner said. “I began working at Middletown in 2001 and have stayed for 18 years because I love the early childhood age group, the work and the staff around me.

“This job has been a perfect fit for me, allowing me to use my existing skills and develop new ones over the years.”

What she likes most is the variety that her position affords.

“There is no typical day, which is part of what I enjoy about this job,” she said. “I do groups in classrooms, see individual children, work with parents, support staff and help make connections to community resources as needed.”

Those duties will end with the close of the 2018-19 school year. Cosner is set to retire.

She has no definitive retirement Bucket List, but said, “my husband is retired, so we will do some more traveling.”

Beyond that, Cosner said, “I want to read more and do more outdoor activities, including gardening and bird-watching. And, I’ll see what comes my way.”

As the semester nears an end, Cosner has concentrated on her duties rather than thinking about moments she might not experience again.

“I continue to enjoy each day that I am here,” she said.  “I am focusing on what I need to do each day rather than thinking about how it might be the last time for a particular part of my job.

“I am still very busy.”

As a school social worker, much of her work with students is confidential, though rewarding.

“I have had wonderful experiences working with children and families over the years,” she said. “I often do work with children for more than one year and that consistency can be important in a child’s development.

“I have really enjoyed doing twice monthly social/emotional lessons in all of the kindergarten and Pre-K classes. It is a great way to get to know all of the students.”

She has a fondness for one particular endeavor.

“I love reading out loud to children,” Cosner said. “I have worked with three amazing librarians – Pat Proctor, Ann Ohms and Jeannette Hulick – who have helped me out over the years in finding excellent children’s literature that supports growth in the social/emotional area and supporting the district’s behavioral expectation: be safe, be responsible and be respectful.

“I will miss my colleagues and all of the students here at Middletown.”

When she says her goodbyes at the end of the month, however, she knows it won’t necessarily be forever.

“I might come back as a sub,” she said. “That is still to be decided.”