Megan Nickles

Current Northwest College Foundation second vice president Megan Nickles is running uncontested for one of the Northwest Board of Trustees two open Powell district positions.

Nickles is originally from Powell, graduating from Powell High School before moving to Northwest College, where she graduated in 1984. While pursuing her bachelor’s in English and master’s degree in American Studies at the University of Wyoming, she met her husband Steve and the two moved to Alaska and started their family. In 1994, they relocated to Powell where they have lived since.

“Through the decades, whatever it has looked like, Northwest’s commitment to serve the community and provide quality education has remained,” Nickles said. “Institutions evolve and change, but the college has always held onto its core values and I want to honor how much they’ve enriched the community.”

Nickles has served on Northwest’s Foundation board for more than 20 years and has also acted as the board’s president. Alongside her experience at the college, she ministers as a nonstipendiary priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church and has a background volunteering with the Homesteader Museum, both institutions in which she served on board positions.

Nickles’ family has extensive connections to Northwest, beginning with her father, Bill Woods, who began teaching biology and life sciences at the college in 1961 and went on to become the dean of Administrative Services, the first Foundation director and the first compliance officer. All three of Nickles’ children also went on to graduate from Northwest, with her oldest graduating in pre-professional studies, her middle child studying music technology and multimedia and her youngest studying outdoor education and recreational leadership.

“My husband and I just had our first grandchild and we really began to assess things,” Nickles said. “Northwest has always been a deeply ingrained part of my life, and when the seat opened up, it seemed like the perfect time to engage again with the institution whose values I believe have been immeasurable for our communities.”

Northwest College is more than just a place to earn a credential or prepare for a job in Nickles’ view. She describes it as an institution that brings people together through access and opportunity, as well as boasting programs from career and technical programs to dual enrollment courses offered to high schoolers in the area. She praised the college’s efforts in supporting nontraditional and part-time students as well.

“A major role for the college is to draw people together and connect with them in the context of education and skill development,” Nickles said. “It’s a unique institution with deeply fulfilling opportunities for all of us, not just economically.”

Rather than entering the role with a personal agenda, Nickles believes a trustee should be collaborative and understand the college’s existing direction and long-term plans, then contribute to them. She sees Northwest College as a community organization with a commitment to quality education and that her role is to respond thoughtfully to budgetary concerns and changing local needs.

“I think that even though the college is on a somewhat different trajectory than it has been in decades past, I still think that it’s a solid, thoughtful trajectory,” Nickles said. “Communication among staff, students and faculty is always a priority and I hope I can contribute and uphold the work that’s been done.”