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When Corey Pevitz joined a conference panel of rural educators, he shared an atypical origin story: He’d spent his high-school days in suburban Chicago, in a large district filled with resources and opportunities.

“It was my junior year, and I was in a peace and conflict studies class, which is a class I feel like is only offered in the suburbs — you know, those very niche classes,” he said during the conference. “And Seth Brady was the instructor. And I remember one afternoon, he pulled me aside after class and he said, ‘Corey, you would be a great teacher.’ And at the time I said, ‘No.’ Because my knowledge of teachers were that they were overworked and underpaid.

“While that certainly was the case, over time, I started thinking more about it, and I realized he was right. I would be a pretty good educator,” he continued. “So when I was looking at programs, I realized that Monmouth College was the place for me. And at that point, it was ‘teacher’; it was not ‘rural teacher’ until I found TARTANS — Teachers Allied with Rural Towns and Neighborhood Schools.

“And it was there I realized there was a problem here. There was a need here in rural education, and I felt a calling towards that. I'm not from a rural area. I'm from the Chicago suburbs, so I needed to acclimate and learn about the necessities of rural education that I had not realized growing up in a school of 2,000 students.

“Going to Monmouth, embracing the TARTANS’s ideologies of place-based education, of rural resource, were essential in determining my future outlook on rural education. When I finally reached the point of graduating, I wanted to stay in that rural environment, helping these rural students, that their whole lives have been told that maybe there's not enough for them, that they don't have enough potential to get outside at least of where they're from. For me, that calling really originated in TARTANS, in college, and determined my role as a rural educator.”

TARTANS is a partner program of the Rural Teacher Corps Community of Learners project, an initiative of Rural Schools Collaborative to prepare, recruit and keep educators in rural communities. Corey received a scholarship for his participation in the program at Monmouth College, itself a small school in a rural area.

“It was in that rural space at Monmouth College where I saw the discrepancies between the education that I had received as a student growing up in the Chicago suburbs and the education that a lot of my colleagues had received coming from rural places — but also going into the classroom during my practicum experiences, teaching in a rural school during student teaching.

“Seeing the discrepancy and the dichotomy between rural education and non-rural education was probably one of the biggest culture shocks I've ever experienced. And I think it was that experience and opportunity that drew me into the rural classroom.”

Identifying the needs in rural education

As an undergraduate, Corey reviewed research examining college attendance rates among rural students. The rural deficit in college applications and college attainment was striking. Too many see others around them without education beyond a high-school diploma.

“That pattern kind of persists, and it insists upon itself in these rural communities where students who don't see that type of education being attained won't think it's attainable for themselves,” he said. “And then they'll have this kind of path that's set out for them in which they almost feel locked in. And when talking to students, I ask, ‘What are your plans for after you graduate?’

“‘Well, I would hope to go to college, but I don't really think I can do that.’ And so, what we see is — at least in my opinion — some self-doubt and deprecation that is probably unwarranted. And they can certainly achieve some of those things if they either, one, had more opportunities, or two, saw that more tangibly within either their communities, their families, or even from their educators.”

After graduating from Monmouth in 2024, Corey headed to Abingdon-Avon High School, a consolidated school of about 250 students in rural Illinois between Peoria and the Quad Cities. He could see firsthand how using a place-based approach to education — helping students appreciate their hometown and history — could inspire academic success.

“Making education and learning more tangible, I felt, was so much more powerful in a rural place than anywhere else that I had been either as a student or as a teacher,” he explained. “And that capacity to make the learning tangible, to connect it to the place was so much more attainable, too, in a rural place.”

In his first year, Corey partnered with the Smithsonian Institute and its Democracy in Dialogue Virtual Exchange, which allowed his students to explore how Abingdon and its region have contributed to the American experience over the past 250 years. He was paired with another teacher in Montrose, Pennsylvania, and together, their students shared the stories of their communities.

As part of the project, Corey took his students to the local history museum, where they learned about a huge pottery factory that made nationally known artware and ceramic items. One student sat in front of a bright teal toilet and frantically scribbled notes on a clipboard about the historic craft.

“I just have that memory etched into my mind,” he said, “and it's those types of things where she was like, ‘I never knew that Abington had this pottery factory and that they crafted all these things.’ And it was kind of one of those things there you don't know that until you're told it because that's not the type of knowledge that people share. Finding ways to connect the individuals to the community, and bringing the students out into that community, I think is just so special.”

Being in a small community has provided him many opportunities early in his teaching career: JV football coach, assistant baseball coach, advisor to the Student Council.

Said Corey: “It's those sorts of opportunities where I would never be able to do that triad of adviserships and coaching at a large school. It just wouldn't be an option afforded to me. And I have this diversity of experiences. I’m able to interact with my students in a variety of capacities, and I think that is some of the most powerful things.”

It has helped him become more a part of Abingdon — or “A-Town” as some locals call it. People recognize him in town, at the gym. and parents connect deeply to the school through the athletic programs, especially in a rural community.

“Overall community passion — specifically about athletics — was really cool,” he said. “I remember showing up to football games, and now, baseball games — our baseball team is doing really well — and the passion that the community has is really great. I remember we just won our regional championship. And today I was driving out of the town and on the bank's sign, where it has like the digital sign, said, ‘Congratulations to the A-Town Boys Baseball Team for winning regional,’ like the regional championship. That's pretty cool. The bank in the community is congratulating us.

“And I'm certain that probably, maybe happened when I was in high school, but I didn't take note of it. But at these small towns, by virtue of being small, everyone knows what's happening. And so, whether it's athletics, whether it's important local events, anything like that, they're passionate about it.”

That connection also allows him to bring the community more concretely into the classroom. In his current events class, he invited the local mayoral candidates to make their pitches to his students, who asked questions and thought about who might be the best representative for their town. The class then held its own mock election.

“Education is the basis of our democracy, right?” he said. “If we are not educated, if we are not informed citizens, we cannot be good citizens. And I want to instill that idea into others. And I want to make sure that people understand that as educators, as administrators, as politicians, but also as community members, they have an obligation, whether they think they do or not, to benefit education, to support education, because it helps everyone. Not just the students or the teachers, it helps everyone.

“And that’s something I’m very passionate about. I’m passionate about teaching, but overall, I’m passionate about education. And I always want to be a part of that.”

Though the community pays close attention to the high school’s sports successes, connecting parents to the classroom is sometimes more challenging. He has begun what he calls “positive phone calls,” reaching out to parents to let them know when their kids are succeeding in the classroom.

“There was this one student who otherwise would very rarely have gotten a positive phone call home,” he recalled. “They probably would have gotten phone calls home, but they were very rarely positive. And they had performed really, really great on an assessment that I had given in class, a test that I had given. And I called home, and she said, ‘No, what is it?’ was basically how she started the conversation. I said, ‘No, I mean it's not that type of phone call.’

“And the reaction I got from her was just the elation. I could hear it through the phone. It was pretty amazing, and it put a smile on her face and put a smile on mine, no doubt. And it's just those moments that make all the pitfalls, all the negativity that's around education — the politics, the funding, the negativity — it makes it almost worth it.”

Thank you to Corey Pevitz for sharing his rural teacher story with Rural Schools Collaborative. Corey nominated to share their stories by RSC’s Illinois Hub Leads. Would you like to nominate someone or share your story as a rural educator? Fill out our online submission form here.

I Am A Rural Teacher shares the stories, experiences, and aspirations of America’s rural teachers. By highlighting the narratives of veteran, new, and future teachers, I Am A Rural Teacher strives to support an education ecosystem where rural teacher-leaders are front and center. This project is supported by the Rural Teacher Corps: A Community of Learners.

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