This is the second installment in our Changemaker Series centered on conversations with individuals who exemplify the four quadrants of the Blue Roads Changemaker Journey.  By asking questions related to the guiding theme for our work, “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World,” we highlight the unique attributes and practices of change-making in the lives of leaders who are making significant contributions to the world we share.  Read on for a summary of our interview with Rebecca Counts Kahila or watch the entirety of the conversation here:  RCK Interview Link

Introducing Rebecca, Homegrown Changemaker

Rebecca Counts Kahila is co-founder of Blue Roads Education Group.  Much of the inspiration for our work in rural communities and schools comes directly from her personal journey as a changemaker in the field of education.  Raised in the mountains of rural Virginia, she was exposed to the wonders of the wider world at a surprisingly young age when her father’s work as a coal miner took her family to Algeria when she was 13 years old.  Her story is one of continuous learning, perseverance, and growing influence that has taken her from her mother’s rural classroom to her own work as a teacher, principal, and leader re-envisioning possibilities for struggling students at home and abroad.    

Meet Homegrown Rebecca

Rebecca was born and raised in Buchanan County, high in the Appalachian Mountains of far southwestern Virginia in the USA. Her large family, including seven siblings, was surrounded by the majesty of the natural environment.  

I grew up running the mountains barefoot.

Her father was an intelligent man with a formal education that ended after seventh grade.  He made a good living for the family as a hard rock miner providing coal for fuel to the eastern United States and beyond.  Her mother was a schoolteacher who taught her own daughter, “Becky” in her third-grade classroom. Rebecca learned from an early age that education is key for everyone’s wellbeing in a healthy society.  She also learned that some were able to access that education more readily than others.

Though she was never devalued in her family, the culture encouraged more attention and placed more importance on male children as a rule.  

I grew up learning to serve men, take second place, go to the end of the line, and to put the needs of others before myself.  

She acknowledges certain value in being raised to care for others.  This characteristic is apparent in the motivation she found to become an educator.  Rebecca credits her older brother, Randy, who died at the young age of 23, as spurring her in that direction.  Randy was the kid who struggled greatly with his studies and could never quite make it or fit in with others in his age group at school.  Rebecca now believes that Randy had dyslexia or some other learning disability before the time when these conditions were understood and handled appropriately in schools. 

When I became a teacher, I said, I will make sure that kids like Randy feel included.

Solution-focused Rebecca

After graduating from college, Rebecca began her career as an English teacher in Franklin County, Virginia, where she continued to see students with unmet needs like her brother.  As a classroom teacher, she put her belief in using data to guide decision-making into regular practice.  She studied student performance and observed behavioral trends that concerned her greatly.    

I started looking at who’s failing, why are they failing and how am I failing them? …Ultimately as a teacher, I’m the one that’s responsible for providing them with instruction that meets their needs.