WCU Stories      May 6, 2025

By Cam Adams

Lydia Sale has an unwavering dedication to public education.

She walks into her classroom at Swain West Elementary School each morning with her students on her heart. That’s always been the case for Sale. Even her parents, both educators, could see it from a young age. She loves teaching and motivating kids.

It runs in the family — and so does being a Catamount.

In addition to being a fifth-generation educator, Sale is a part of a family full of Western Carolina University graduates. She took the road less traveled by for her bachelor’s, attending Belmont Abbey College, but on May 9, she’ll be joining her parents and siblings in being WCU grads.

“I'm very excited for graduation,” said Sale, who is graduating with a master of arts in education. “It's been two-and-a-half years I've been in the master's program at Western, and it was a great decision to go back. It was a huge commitment of time and energy, but it was 100% worth it.”

The Sale family’s purple and gold roots run deep, even before WCU was called WCU. Lydia’s great grandmother, Pearl Cantrell Roberts, attended the Western Carolina Teachers College before she taught in Buncombe County for 40 years.

Her grandson and Lydia’s dad, Mark Sale, graduated from WCU, as did his wife, Susan Sale, and his sons, Jon and Tim Sale. With those WCU degrees, the teaching genes ran deep, too.

Mark is the superintendent of Swain County Schools where Tim works as a band director and Susan worked over three decades, mostly in special education. Jon is also a band director at Parkwood High School in Monroe.

That left Lydia as the odd one out as, much to her family’s surprise, she went to another school for her undergrad.

“We did make fun of her when she went somewhere else because she's literally the only one that has went somewhere else,” Tim said, “but when she was doing her master's stuff, she was more of the one that said, 'I've gotta get some kind of degree from Western.'

“We weren't too hard on her. Although, we did, especially when she was leaving high school, just keep reminding her she's the only one.”

But Lydia eventually continued the Catamount family tradition, deciding to earn another degree because of her passion for education and, particularly, her desire to help teachers strengthen their literacy instruction one day.

Lydia said the master's program at WCU has taught her how to take a leadership role in her field, understand and conduct research and think deeper and engage with other learners.

With that new knowledge, the first-grade teacher can be an even better advocate for public education.

“It makes me emotional to even talk about, but public education is the ultimate equalizer,” Lydia said. “It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter who your family is. It doesn't matter what you have.

“Public education gives you the opportunity to define your own success and to create your own path.”

That drive is part of what led Lydia to being named the 2025 North Carolina Western Region Teacher of the Year by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. With that honor, Lydia will have opportunities to advocate for education in Western North Carolina, including through policy.

She was surprised with the distinction in Swain West’s media center back in December, greeted by a large banner and her students.

“(My students) were very excited. They had no clue what was happening,” Lydia said. “They just knew that something happened for Ms. Sale and they got to eat cake, so they were really excited about that.”

Also part of the surprise were several teachers, administrators and board members at Swain County Schools, 2024 state teacher of the year and WCU alumna Heather Smith and her family, including her dad.

As a superintendent, Mark is thrilled for the recognition the honor brings to his school district and that it has a teacher of Lydia’s caliber in its classrooms.

But as a father, Mark is much more proud — and not because she’s a region teacher of the year or future WCU alumna.

“Now as a dad, I'll be honest, I haven't taken a lot of pride in the fact that she's received this honor because before she received this and if she hadn't received this, I'm just proud of her as a dad,” Mark said.

“She is a wonderful person, and she's pursuing God's call on her life. If there is any pride in me or any joy in me about that, it's in those facts.”