“A Natural from Day One”: Lindsay Blalock ’25 exemplifies Charlotte’s excellence in literacy education

“Remember your why” is a phrase teachers hear constantly. It’s supposed to be an encouragement, reminding educators to center the reason they’re in the profession, because no matter how hard it may get, that ‘why’ is supposed to always get you through. For elementary education senior Lindsay Blalock, her ‘why’ is baked into her DNA.

Family is everything to Blalock. Charlotte was originally on her shortlist for colleges because it was close to home, and she wanted to stay close by to see her younger sister growing up. She originally chose nursing as her major, as her grandmother who raised her was a nurse. However, she realized quickly the scientific workload was not her strong suit, so she pivoted to education to find a career where she could still serve others. “I had actually talked to some of my high school teachers about it, who had said they could see me teaching kindergarten, so I decided, ‘Okay, I’ll try it,’ and I loved it.”

She loved it immediately, in fact. In her first classroom observation in her first semester as an education major, she visited the elementary school she had attended as a child and worked with her former kindergarten teacher. “It was so nostalgic, that connection was still there, and meeting the kids — they all had cards for me… that connection and those kids just really set it for me that this is what I want to do.”

This semester, Blalock was selected as the keynote speaker for 49er Teach Day, a biannual event where high school students in Future Teachers clubs, Teacher Cadet programs and Teaching as a Profession courses across North Carolina schools are invited to Charlotte’s campus to see what being an education major would look like. There, she got choked up as she spoke about her goal as an educator: to make every student feel welcome and safe in her classroom, especially those who feel they don’t have anywhere else that makes them feel that way. 

She elaborated later, “I had some teachers who made me feel so safe and so loved, but I also had some who made me feel terrible and like I hated going to school. In fifth grade, I started having the worst anxiety. I made myself sick with anxiety every morning just thinking about going to school, I would dread it so much, and I never want my students to feel that way.”

She sees herself in many of her students, too. “There are so many kids who grow up without their parents — maybe raised by their grandparents, like me, or maybe without anyone. I just want them to be safe and to be that safe person for those kids that might have no one else.”

Her grandmother, who took her in and raised her when her parents couldn’t, has been her role model throughout her life. Blalock says she’s always in the back of her mind when she’s teaching. “We’re still very close, she’s buying stuff for my new classroom, I still go see her every weekend. She’s a very kind-hearted, caretaker type and has been in nursing forever. She’s an amazing person.”

She’s certainly made her grandmother proud. “She was a natural from the first time I observed her,” said supervisor Whitney Settlemier, leaving no doubt that Blalock would succeed in her own classroom. “She was a positive light within the classroom, and connected with her students to make them excited to learn. She brought their learning to life.” 

And the proof isn’t just in the feedback from her supervising professors — Blalock also already has a job lined up for after graduation. She’ll be at the elementary school in Cabarrus County where she’s currently student teaching, which is chock full of Charlotte alumni. When the role came open, several administrators kept asking Blalock’s clinical educator, “Is she going to apply?” She had some stiff competition, but the principal said her references made all the difference. 

Debra Diegmann, senior lecturer and faculty advisor for the Charlotte chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, was one of those references and couldn’t say enough good things about her pupil. “Lindsay has a contagious smile that can brighten up anyone’s day; I can only imagine the light she brings to her first grade classroom as a brand new teacher. Her passion to teach and ability to reflect on her own strengths and weaknesses will allow her to grow into an amazing teacher. I personally cannot wait for the invitation to go and visit her classroom.”

Kappa Delta Pi, or KDP, is the education honors society where Blalock got involved after Diegmann recommended it to her in class her junior year. It became her home in the college: she met her best friend there, and Diegmann and co-advisor Kirsten Abel became “like mothers” to Blalock. “They’re always there, so supportive, and helped me grow into different leadership positions, see different points of view.”

KDP’s regular service opportunities have offered Blalock a chance to put her teacher skills to the test in different ways outside the classroom. She assisted with 49er Teach Day last year and then was selected as the keynote speaker this year, inspiring a room of over a hundred high schoolers, many of whom remarked afterward how her speech had moved them. Her favorite, though, was a Valentine’s Day event “The Love of Reading,” where they took books to the now-shuttered Niner University Elementary and read to each class. “I got to read to the exceptional children class and they’re my favorites — I did tutoring there, I worked there for summer camp, so they knew me and it was really special. Being able to come in, gift the teacher the book, give each child a book… that one’s my favorite, because reading really is so important.”

The love for reading runs deep in Blalock, so it only makes sense that she’s also a Mebane Scholar, which is a scholarship and service program within the Mebane Early Literacy Center. “Going into first grade, literacy is so foundational. Working on phonics with them, and fluency — reading sets them up for everything else. If you can read, then you can read the math problems. If you can read, you can learn science and social studies. Reading is the foundation of everything, so getting to take two sets of clinicals specifically for early literacy with other scholars who are passionate about reading and education has been so impactful.”

Center director Angela Preston said that Blalock’s “passion for education is evident in the way she speaks about being a teacher — she desires to be a teacher that shapes lives and makes a difference, and considers teaching a calling on her life.” That passion shone through best at a collaborative “Read Together” workshop with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library planned by Blalock and her fellow scholars. At a local elementary school, they led families in reading strategies they could use at home with their children, demonstrating that literacy education doesn’t stop at the classroom door. 

As a Mebane Scholar, she’s also gotten to take part in research and attend conferences like our Mebane Literacy Summit, which have whet her appetite for more. She hopes to get an M.Ed. in reading education, likely here at Charlotte, and continue to teach in the classroom, but also joked about the possibility of more. “Dr. Blalock? Maybe, we’ll see!”