(upbeat music) - Hi, I am Jacqui Tricarico on location at the NJEA Convention here in Atlantic City.

So pleased to be joined now by Cathy MacManiman.

She's the chair of the NJEA Convention Committee here this year and the kindergarten teacher in West Hampton, New Jersey.

- Yes.

- Great to have you with us.

- Thank you.

- Good morning.

So talk about being the committee chair for the convention here this year.

What does that mean?

- So, I chair a committee that represents someone from every county.

We also have a representative from higher ed, our aspiring ed and our retirees.

So we get all those people together a few times a year, and we talk about the feel of the convention, the vision for convention, what went well this year, what we need to fix for next year, and we bring all those opinions together.

They get information from their counties to share with us.

They take information back to their counties.

So it's really a lot of collaboration.

We work with our staff, Dr.

Chrissy and Vicky and Krista who do the heavy work of this convention, but we get a piece of it, which is great.

- And for people who haven't been, this convention is massive.

There are I think estimated 10,000 educators, support professionals, all types of people coming in and out of these doors over the two days.

What were you most excited about for this year specifically?

- So our keynote, Malala Yousafzai, goodness, when her name came out, it's shocking to us, and we knew that that was a possibility, but the buzz we heard from members around the state about seeing her in New Jersey and hearing her and being in the same room with her.

So that was amazing.

The shift over the past few years, really focusing on our social justice side of our union because we do all the important work of contracts and contract enforcement and supporting our educators so they can support our students.

But giving a nod to that social justice side with some of our exhibits and some of our presentations really is exciting and seeing that happening in real time while we're down here is great.

- Yeah, it's such a diverse community here.

All walks of life.

You walk around the convention, you're gonna find anything from, you know, baby chicks over there that you can hold, (Both laughing) to a drag queen exhibit right behind you.

It's just really fun.

But you and your team are walking around in bright colored shirt.

- We are.

- Saying, you know, ask me a question if you have it.

How important was that rule for you and what are some of the questions you've been asked over the last few days?

- So let's say the most interesting questions, gosh, somebody asked me the capital of Idaho last year when I had my ask her.

I'm not sure that I did.

I think I gave a really tentative guess.

But you know, that just to be funny and just to be silly, but we're asked where things are all the time.

- Like I said, it's big, it's hard to navigate.

- Yeah and oftentimes we had that line from Malala yesterday and it was so far back and people were saying, how do we get to the Malala's line?

And for a while it was that way, and then it was, oh my gosh, it's right here.

It's wormed its way all the way around.

- Yeah.

And that line was long yesterday.

I poked my head over there it was completely filled to the brim.

They couldn't let anybody else in.

How do you see this convention kind of as a reset for teachers.

We're in November.

I mean, teachers just got back into the classroom, but let's be honest, teachers work year round, right?

How do you see it as a reset for them to kind of all come together under the same umbrella?

- Well, I think that's a really important part of it because we start in September, some teachers, these two days are their first days off from teaching.

Some don't have any holidays in the early months.

And you get to be here with people who know you and know your job and know what your struggles are.

I said when I was on the phone with Chloe, that my husband, I've been married now for 30 years, and so I've been a teacher all those years and there are still things he just doesn't get about my job and about my day-to-day.

And here we know we are finding like people, these are our people.

And while we come from different places in the state, physically or geographically, and we have different backgrounds, we all know what it is to go in and face our students, whether we're a bus driver or cafeteria worker, teacher, a classroom aid, we all have that shared common language and it is a reset.

It is, these are my people, this is where I need to be.

- This is the community.

Bringing everybody together.

30 plus years in the classroom, where do you continue to get the energy and just the passion to keep going?

- I have great teacher friends at school and great colleagues at school, which makes the day so much better.

But in kindergarten especially, they're just so new.

We often say like, you weren't here five years ago, you weren't even on the earth, you know?

And here they are and they're so much ahead of them.

So how can we bring them into school and soften them and give them that great start to their education because it's a long process to get where they need to be as adults.

So that's what motivates me.

And just their little faces and their little enthusiasm and just what can I do to help make their experience and their start of school a great one so they love to be here, you know, have it be a really warm place to move them on to their next learning.

- Yeah, propel them for a lifelong learning journey, really.

What is a piece of advice that you would give a newer teacher just starting out on this journey that you've learned along the way?

- I think find your people.

That's a big one.

Find the right people.

And that takes some trial and error because you have to find the people that feed you and they help make your day better.

They'll listen to you and not judge you when you just need to vent a little bit.

And take your time.

When I started, that really wasn't anywhere in anybody's mind about take time for yourself, let alone for educators.

So that is a big thing, but you also have to do what helps your day go by.

So if I get there early before school and other people don't, that's okay because that's what helps my day get going.

And they have to find that spot too.

You can't take everything in.

You can't be Marsha Brady signing up for every club.

You have to, you know, do some trial ana error and find your people and balance your life.

- And what I've learned, it does seem like it's really difficult to do that as a teacher because you're bringing so much home with you of what you're learning from your students and different trials and turbulence that the students are feeling that they're bringing into the classroom and you're taking on for them.

So it's really, I think, like you said, so important for self-care.

Mental health, number one.

- And sometimes shutting things off because especially too, we talk about social media and it's impact on our students and our children, but we are getting social media posts of how to teach this better, how to do this right and you're doing this wrong.

And sometimes educators, we have to shut that off too and do what works for us and for our students because the best practices are the best practices and there are things we can go towards, but it doesn't always work in our own classroom with our particular students.

So that's part of it too, is shutting off all the outside influences at times and sifting through what works and what we want to try and what we're saying, not this year.

- Yeah, that outside noise.

- Yeah.

Really.

- Well, Cathy, thank you for dedicating so much time.

to our youngest students here in the state and thank you for helping our teachers and all the other folks attending today navigate this beautiful convention.

It was great to speak with you.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Holy Name.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

Kean University.

PSE&G.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

The Fund for New Jersey.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- (Male narrator) Ready for anything?

That ought to be our state motto.

All hustle, no nonsense, never backs down.

So when it comes to strengthening the grid and uplifting our communities, we do it our way.

Because storms don’t care what exit they hit, and talking doesn’t fix the grid.

Fixing it does.

Around here, we make our own future.

Because ready is who we are.

PSEG.