Heather McCarthy knew she was not going to win.
In fact, when she was notified in February she had been nominated for a Women Changing the World Award, she initially thought it was a joke. She simply could not comprehend how her name ended up on a list of global educators being honored for their work.
“I think there’s a lot of really amazing people — especially a lot of amazing women — who go above and beyond and aren’t getting recognized,” McCarthy said. “To me, it seems very obscure, very unimaginable that I would be in this realm with these kinds of amazing people.”
In fact, her instinct was to ignore the email altogether. But after calling her sister and finding out her sibling had nothing to do with the nomination, McCarthy, a media specialist at Oak Lawn-Hometown Middle School, looked again and found the application for the Woman in Education category was pre-filled, though she still has no idea who did it.
“Somebody said a lot of amazing, really nice things about me,” she said. “It’s obviously somebody who knows me really well.”
So, she answered two questions about her educational vision, and at the beginning of March McCarthy learned she was a finalist. She spent some time researching the other finalists from all over the world to learn about the “really amazing things” the women are doing in the realms of STEM, coding, technology and advocating for girls education. She could not help but feel like simply a “librarian from a suburb of Chicago” by comparison.
Ultimately she did not win when the awards were announced earlier in April, but the experience has still proved valuable.
“I’m just using it as a teaching opportunity with my students,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said she always preaches to her students that small acts of kindness add up. And she feels like the recognition was about a lot of little things she has done over the course of her career and beyond it.
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“It’s part of my life as a whole, not just what I do for a living,” McCarthy said.
The Women Changing the World Awards celebrate women who have achieved outstanding success in areas such as sustainability, humanitarian work, leadership, advocacy, tech, product development, education, health and innovation, according to a news release from the organization. McCarthy was recognized as “an educational leader who uses her passion for literature to spread the message of love, empathy, and equality through service learning projects with her students,” per the release. It also notes McCarthy leads by example on both a local and global level to make the world a better place.
McCarthy has been at OLHMS since it opened in 2005, previously working as a seventh grade language arts teacher. In her time at the school, she has created unique projects for her students, won contests and enabled her students in a shared desire to change the world. She was previously named Illinois’ recipient of the National University System-Sanford Teacher Award and was recognized by the Chicago Bears in 2021 for her work.
“Maybe the universe is telling me: Just act like you’re worthy and go with it and see what happens,” McCarthy said with a laugh.
McCarthy has always viewed literature education and changing the world a natural connection to make.
“It’s always been part of my drive and passion to help others,” she said. “It’s why I went into the field of education and working with kids. I think there’s just a real natural connection between literature and community service, literature and service learning. With everything you read, you can make some kind of connection to empathy or helping others — even just learning about others.”
While McCarthy said she likes big events such as a 6K she did with World Vision because they bring together so many people on a global level, she also enjoys the small projects with students. Recently, she has been working with a few students who are using sewing machines to turn pillowcases into dresses they can donate.
“Sometimes it’s really nice when you’re just working with five or six kids and they’re fully invested in this project and the conversations,” McCarthy said. “I like it on both ends: These small, tiny intimate projects and then the projects on a grander scale. They bring me joy in different ways.”
McCarthy is planning a trip to Thailand to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary. And it should come as little surprise at this point that she is already considering how this can benefit her students.
“I’m hoping my trip to Thailand and the elephant sanctuary, I can bring some of that experience and knowledge back to the kids and we can do some cool projects,” McCarthy said.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.