HEIDI ARMSTRONG-DYER

harmstrong@niswongerfoundation.org

Phone: (423) 820-8181

Schools Served:

Chuckey-Doak High School,

Greeneville High School,

North Greene High School,

West Greene High School 

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Hey there! My name is Heidi, and this is my third year working with NiswongerCARE. 

I graduated from Chuckey-Doak in 2015. When I graduated from high school, I had the perfect career plan set in place: major in Psychology, graduate in 4 years, and go straight to get a master’s degree in school counseling. And I’m here to tell you that plan totally changed. Because honestly, who knows exactly who they’re going to be and what they’re going to do at 18? (I guess some of you might, but I sure didn’t at least.)

I went on to East Tennessee State University and struggled a bit in adjusting. It was hard to learn the balance between being overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but I finally found some awesome student organizations that helped me feel comfortable and find my place. 

As far as academics, I changed my minor like 7 times and through that I finally found the Communication Studies program. I took a chance and switched majors my junior year and pushed back my graduation date. Then I realized I might as well be a double major because I only had a few psych classes left and I needed to fill in my schedule anyways.

All in all, I graduated from ETSU in December 2019 with a great well-rounded skillset and an awesome college experience, but I’m still trying to figure out what I really want to be when I grow up. So in the meantime, I enjoy helping students overcome obstacles and find their own path to postsecondary success. 

During college, I worked for 3 summers with Tusculum’s Upward Bound program and also served one year as an ETSU Buccaneer Involvement Guide (BIG) and helped first-time freshmen navigate college resources. That said, I have some prior experience working with high school students and recent graduates through that difficult time when everyone is asking “What’s Next?”.

During my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, friends, and my wonderful husband Zach. I also enjoy helping out with my church’s youth group, and I’m working on starting a blog to talk about Bible Study & ministry. I love a good spreadsheet and finding out fun ways to organize and color-code, so if you want to see me geek out, ask me about any of those things!