Get to Know Nicole Coronado
The Ames Community School District is featuring our amazing Principals and Associate Principals during National Principals Month. Get to know Associate Principal at Ames Middle School, Nicole Coronado. She has been with the Ames CSD for 10 years. Coronado became a principal because she wants to leave a positive impact with as many people as possible.
“Each year, the field of education gets more challenging for students and educators,” she said. “The span of academic, social, emotional and mental health needs of our students has never been so great. I enjoy collaborating, problem solving, and finding creative solutions to support students and staff and love that part of my job as an associate principal.”
Coronado’s path to Ames started in Houston where her educational foundation started in Math and Science magnet schools. In high school, Coronado moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, and it was during that time her future goals switched from engineering to education. Coronado has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with endorsements in Math and English as a Second Language from Iowa State University, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Buena Vista, and Masters in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University. Her favorite way to connect with students is by listening to them.
“As a classroom teacher, I would go to lunch and recess with my students almost everyday so we could chat about life. As a principal, I do that by checking in with students in the hallways and the lunchroom and by being available whenever they need me,” she said.
If Coronado had an hour of free time she would be walking her dogs, Javier and Jaguar. She would rather read a book than watch a movie, and her favorite school lunch is pizza. Her favorite activity when she was the age of the students in her building was participating on the volleyball, basketball, and robotics teams. Something students might not know about her is that she loves animals, even strange ones.
“I used to own a bearded dragon and two Madagascar hissing cockroaches,” she adds.
Something that excites her currently is improvements in social and emotional health with her students after phones were removed from the school environment.
“It’s been fun to watch students having conversations, playing games, and being kids again,” she said.
Thank you, Associate Principal Coronado!