Cyndi Carroll\u2019s passion for learning and inclusivity was one of the many reasons she was so loved by her students, both in Thailand during a work abroad opportunity and at Kate S. Durdan Public School,\u00a0Loretto Catholic Elementary School and\u00a0Father Hennepin Catholic Elementary School in Niagara Falls.<\/p>\n
During this year\u2019s Virtual Spring Convocation, Carroll, who passed away on March 28 at the age of 26, received a posthumous master\u2019s of Education degree from Brock.<\/p>\n
Her parents, Michael and Laura Lea, and younger sisters, Monica and Gillian, said her smile \u201cconsistently brightened everyone\u2019s day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe often got complimented for always having a smile on her face, even if she was having a rough day,\u201d they said. \u201cHer memories will live on forever in everyone\u2019s hearts, but her infectious smile and laugh will be missed the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Known as Miss Cyndi in the classroom, Carroll saw the value and potential in everyone. If a child was in her care, she was devoted to ensuring they didn\u2019t slip through the cracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren just gravitated towards Cyndi,\u201d the family said. \u201cThrough her education and employment, she saw the flaws in the education system. It was then that she knew she would make a bigger impact from an administrative standpoint. Her goal was to create a curriculum that was inclusive of all types of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
They said she would make a point to get to know every single child she came in contact with, as well as their parents, and integrated common interests such as sports teams, into daily activities to make learning exciting and impactful.<\/p>\n
Her family said she both loved and excelled in school. After doing intensive research on Master of Education programs, Brock was at the top of her list.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe enjoyed her time at Brock and was seriously considering completing her PhD there as well,\u201d the family said.<\/p>\n
She was the type of person who would do anything for the people she loved, and if someone was even remotely excited about an idea, she wouldn\u2019t just jump on board in support \u2014 she would organize whatever was necessary to make it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was able to see the positive in every situation,\u201d the family said. \u201cIf you wanted to climb a mountain, she would work out all the details. When there was a party to be planned, she always had the ideas. If you said you needed a week\u2019s vacation on an island, she would figure out all the details without a second thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was also a \u201crock\u201d when people came to her in need of advice, and \u201calways gave her honest opinion \u2014 most of the time, it was exactly what you needed to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adventure always seemed to be calling Carroll, who grew up in the Niagara region, and she would take any opportunity she could to explore the world.<\/p>\n
She would travel for fun, charity, education, experience, as well to support friends and family when they were performing outside of town.<\/p>\n
Carroll travelled to 21 countries and took a job teaching in Thailand for three months with a friend after graduating with honours from her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Waterloo. They spent their weekends exploring the country, and capped off the experience with a trip to Australia and New Zealand. The last trip she took was a father-daughter trip with Habitat for Humanity to Fiji, with another visit to Australia tagged on at the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cCyndi did everything she wanted to do in life,\u201d the family said. \u201cShe encouraged her friends and family to live their life to the fullest, too. The final chapters were the best. Laughing, loving living \u2014 the way life should be lived.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cyndi Carroll\u2019s passion for learning and inclusivity was one of the many reasons she was so loved by her students. During this year\u2019s Virtual Spring Convocation, Carroll, who passed away on March 28 at the age of 26, received a posthumous master\u2019s of Education degree from Brock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":66482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,40,55,1,4],"tags":[156,9144,98,607,9124],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66481"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66481"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66608,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66481\/revisions\/66608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}