Nicole Purkeypile
Instructor
BS in Elementary Education, University of Illinois-Champaign

Nikki is a fourth-generation teacher from Illinois.  She graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign, with a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education.  She then taught fourth grade in her hometown.  After several years, she could no longer contain her love of travel and other cultures.  In 2004, she moved to Monterrey, Mexico to teach fourth-grade students in a bilingual school.  While living in Monterrey, she traveled to Europe, South America, Central America, and throughout Mexico.  She speaks Spanish and considers Mexico her second home.

Nikki returned to the U.S. in 2007 and taught ESL and beginning Spanish to students at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois.  She moved to Albuquerque to be closer to her true loves: hiking, dancing, art, international culture, and spicy food!  She is a graduate student in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies, with a concentration in TESOL.  Nikki is a recipient of the Emma Showman Scholarship.  She is a proud aunt of 2 boys and a “mom” to a cat named Bella.  She enjoys hiking, camping, and soaking in hot springs in the lovely mountains of New Mexico.