Nicole Cockey

Native to the Cape Fear region in southeastern North Carolina, Nicole grew up passionate about storytelling and creative expression through language arts. Over the years, this passion has been expressed through poetry and forms of creative writing, as well as more technical and professional communications.

Nicole began her career teaching English in the Pacific Northwest. Living in Oregon and Northern California, she was a writing assistant at Portland State University and AmeriCorps volunteer with Oregon Campus Compact and the California Conservation Corps. These experiences were the first of many that helped to prepare Nicole to co-create rich, project-based learning environments here at FernLeaf.

Nicole graduated from UNC Wilmington and Western Carolina University, where she completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in English. She earned her initial license to teach English in grades 6-12 with teachNOLA, a highly selective training program for alternative teacher certification in Louisiana. Since 2009, Nicole has taught English at every level from seventh-grade ELA to college composition. 

Nicole’s lifelong mission is to inspire teens to voice themselves in the world beyond the classroom and find authentic joy in learning that enriches the whole self, develops a sense of personal purpose and fulfillment, and improves the world in which we live. Therefore, her English instruction centers around agency, voice, and social change.

Nicole is married to a school-based therapist and is the parent of two FernLeafers at the Creek Campus, Finn and Sasha. Outside of school, Nicole can be found on a yoga mat, in a hammock, with a book, by a creek, or on a walk.