Welcome Debbie McBride!

Debbie McBride

I grew up in East Alton, Illinois and it was here that I met and married my high school sweetheart Randy, 43 years ago. I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in physical education and health, with a minor in German. I have taught in a variety of school settings, from a large St. Louis County high school to a small rural grade school, as well as a public charter school in St. Louis city and a small Lutheran high school. I enjoyed all of these uniquely different environments and feel they have shaped my perspective with regard to education.

I retired in 2015 but continued to teach driver’s education until 2020. As my husband was getting ready to retire as well, we sold our house and moved to St. Louis. This move also put us closer to both of our children and our five wonderful grandchildren.

As I prayed for an opportunity to serve and put some of my skill sets to use, our former pastor and his wife shared information with me about CFNA. They also gave Pastor Stanish my name as someone who might be able to help organize and teach the Rules of the Road and English driving vocabulary for their fast-growing driver’s education program. After visiting the Peace Center and then with members of the staff, I was offered and accepted a position as the Driver’s Ed/ESL coordinator.

It is my hope for all of us to have fun and learn from each other. I am learning a few phrases in the Persian/Farsi language and the young men and women definitely laugh when I pull out my toy cars to illustrate driving situations! In my almost 2 months with CFNA, I have enjoyed getting to know our new Americans and hopefully will be able to give them the knowledge and understanding they need to become good drivers in this country!