An Army wife who's originally from Monroeville strives to leave a positive mark on the communities of each duty station where her husband serves.
Nicole Childs started free yoga classes on a base in New York and helped injured soldiers with their recovery. She created a community of military wives and families at a base in Italy. At her current station in San Antonio, Texas, she's volunteering with the PTO at her children's school. And she just finished a master's degree from Penn State.
Childs is among the military spouses whose contributions, support and sacrifices are acknowledged each year on Military Spouse Appreciation Day, the Friday before Mother's Day. This year's observance is Friday, May 10.
"I like to say, 'do good, be good,' because selfless service has always been really important to me," said Childs, a 2007 graduate of Gateway High School. "How can I make a difference? How can I leave where we're stationed better than when we arrived?"
Childs' husband, Ben, is stationed at Joint Base San Antonio. Prior to this assignment, they had stations in Fort Meade, Maryland; Vincenza, Italy; two different ones at Fort Drum, New York; and Fort Huachuca, Arizona. They have two children, ages 3 and 5.
As a military spouse, she is holding down the fort at home. "Service members work long hours. They work all day, five or more days a week. They go away on training," she said.
During their first assignment at Fort Drum, she was going through training to become a yoga teacher. A requirement was to teach yoga for free to any Department of Defense cardholder, and she offered to teach at a gym on base. The first ones to take the lessons were soldiers who had been injured. They told her how much it had "opened up their minds," she said.
"I loved it, it was a big hit, and it was wonderful to help people," she said.
In Italy, Childs started a pre-natal yoga workshop for pregnant women and was a leader for a soldier and family readiness group to bridge the gap between the units and families.
"We built a lot of community, and the people are still friends," she said. "It makes your heart happy."
She began her master's degree studies, in human resources and employment relations, online through Penn State World Campus during their time at Fort Meade, Maryland, in 2021. She chose that field because she liked working with people and helping people. Plus, she thought the degree would help her make a difference, which has always been her mantra.
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Childs had a newborn at the time and remembers doing her course work after the kids were asleep. It made for long nights, but she had the support of her husband and was determined to succeed.
In San Antonio, she is the president of her children's Montessori school PTO. Through her service, the PTO has raised money to renovate a butterfly greenhouse, sponsor students so they could attend an outdoor school, build an accessible walking path on the school grounds, and a grant program the teachers can use to apply for materials they need.
Her sense of selfless service extended to her schooling, too. She was involved in the Penn State World Campus military service organization and its chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, a national HR association.
Now that she has graduated with a master's degree, she will complete a fellowship through Hiring Our Heroes, a nationwide initiative from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help service members and their spouses find meaningful employment in the civilian workforce.
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