BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — As Martin County High School bids farewell to longtime educator Connie Harless, the school welcomes a new face with deep local roots and a passion for youth development. Nicole Hinkle has been named the new Family and Consumer Sciences teacher and FCCLA adviser, stepping into the role Harless held for more than two decades.

Hinkle joins the school after three and a half years with the University of Kentucky Extension Service, where she worked closely with 4-H youth. Her focus on life skills and hands-on learning aligns naturally with the goals of Family and Consumer Sciences education.

“When you’re growing up, you’re asked a thousand times what you want to be when you grow up,” Hinkle wrote in a Facebook post Monday. “My answer has always been ‘teacher.’”

The timing was right, with Harless preparing for retirement and Hinkle completing her college degree, and the two began discussing their plans.

“I’m a firm believer in things happening on the timeline they’re supposed to, rather than the timeline we want them to,” Hinkle wrote. “So it may have taken me until I was 36 years old and down several winding paths of various careers, but I can finally say I did it.”

Now officially “Mrs. Hinkle” in the classroom, she assumes a role that brings together her lifelong ambition and her experience in community-based youth leadership.

For Harless, retirement means leaving behind a legacy of excellence defined by student achievement and the lifelong impact she made on those she mentored.