Mrs. Cynthia McGovern has been teaching at Prairie Crossing since the school opened its doors in 1999. Since graduating from West Texas State University with a Master’s Degree in Education in 1983, she has been teaching in private and public education. Trained in Montessori and traditional teaching methods, she blends the best of both into a holistic experience for her third and fourth grade looping students. Teaching at PCCS has been an exciting experience for her as the mission of the school has served as a source of inspiration to integrate environmental education experiences into daily schoolwork. Her most recent success with integrating outdoor education into the core curriculum was the construction of a Medicine Wheel Garden and a Garden to Dye For, designed entirely by the students and funded wholly by donations. Mrs. McGovern has also helped eighth grade students begin a local chapter of Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots Club, a student-led community service organization.

She and her husband, Jim, run a very busy household with six children and too many pets. Any free time is spent canoeing, reading, or hanging with her kids. Summers are always a particularly busy time as she joins the Sierra Club for service projects (most recently she worked at Bryce Canyon National Park), visits family and friends on the coast of Maine, or joins her youngest son on Boy Scout camping adventures.