Cindy Niles inspires children while balancing a teaching career, military service

Hanging as a challenge in her classroom, fourth grade teacher Cindy Niles encourages her students to give the pull-up bar their best effort. She believes promoting strength through fitness helps instill within her students the same fortitude and resiliency that’s helped her overcome the challenges faced serving as a woman in the military for more than three decades.

“Don’t discount what women can do,” Niles said. “Women can do anything. We bring a lot of soft skills that are needed in the military.”

Niles balances her time between raising her family in Yorkville, teaching at Oswego’s Prairie Point Elementary School and serving as lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard in Peoria. She was in aircraft maintenance for 17 years before becoming A-Staff, chief of staff.

“Being a mom, being a wife in the military, and a teacher, is a very hard thing to do because you have lots of directions you’re pulled in all the time,” Niles said. “While the ratio of men to women in the military is better now, I used to sit in my commander staff meetings and there would be like three women and 25 men.”

Niles said she tries to be a mentor and positive role model to many of the younger women in the service with her.

Throughout her 26-year teaching career and her time raising two daughters, she has taught the importance of becoming active citizens and providing service to the community.

“From a young age, I emphasized with my daughters to be community service-minded, like volunteering with the Yorkville Parks and Rec for their races and events,” Niles said. “It’s really important to be involved in your community and trying to make it a better place for everyone. You want to teach your kids that being kind to others and giving back is very fulfilling in your heart.”

At her school, Niles runs a new social-emotional curriculum designed to enhance students’ understanding of becoming kind citizens. She also helps students run their own parent/teacher conferences to learn leadership through empowerment.

Every year, she runs a Veterans Day assembly at the school where 50 veterans come and share in the commemoration with the staff and more than 500 students. Niles also hosted a book drive for deployed veterans’ children, collecting more than 200 books.

Niles said she continues to collect groceries, canned goods and home-product donations from her school to give to the Kendall County Food Pantry in Yorkville.

She regularly takes her students to the Bickford Assisted Living Facility in Oswego to help foster important relationships between the community’s youngest and oldest members. Niles believes developing healthy communication skills is imperative to reach every member of society and make sure they feel appreciated.

In one exercise with her students, Niles has them write thoughtful cards to deployed military members.

“Providing a friendly face and being a good listener is important, especially when talking with veterans, because they need to be able to share their stories and experiences,” Niles said. “Everyone’s story is different. They need to talk about the good and the bad, what they’ve been through. It helps them feel better about their lives.”

One of the events Niles took great pride in participating was the Veterans Day Tribute at Chapel on the Green in Yorkville.

“It was a super moving experience for me,” Niles said. “There were veterans from all wars talking about their experiences and what it was like in the community when they came back from war. A lot of them were mistreated, so it was very powerful for them to tell their stories and how they have gone on to help their communities. They also help their communities understand how important military members are.”