Huntington Foundation to Honor
Cathy Cain
Cathy Cain loves her job and the J. Taylor Finley Middle School community is happy to have her in its midst as a guidance counselor and mentor to the more than 700 seventh and eighth graders attending classes in the building.
Mrs. Cain is a longtime Huntington School District faculty member. She worked at Huntington High School and Woodhull Intermediate School prior to settling in at Finley, where she has built strong relationships with students, parents and her colleagues on the staff.
This past summer was a busy time for Mrs. Cain. “I was able to get away to Maine and spend some time with my family,” she said. “It was relaxing and rejuvenating.”
The Huntington Foundation for Excellence in Education will present its coveted Spirit Award to Mrs. Cain at the organization’s annual Reach for the Stars gala on Friday, February 6 at The Harbor Club at Prime.
Mrs. Cain’s road to Huntington included stops in a number of states and even across the world. “I lived in Germany for a few years and went to an elementary school on an Air Force base,” she said. She attended high school in Texas and California before finally graduating from East Islip High School.
The current Finley guidance counselor moved around a lot when she was a child for good reason. “My dad worked for American Airlines,” Mrs. Cain said. “They had a private contract with the military to fly troops from Vietnam when the war was over for reassignment to the local Air Force Base.”
After high school, Mrs. Cain earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at LIU-C.W. Post College. She needs to complete one more course to earn a professional diploma in school administration.
“My first school counseling job was with the Great Neck Public Schools,” Mrs. Cain said. “I worked in the external high school diploma program with middle age and senior citizens helping them obtain a high school diploma based on life experience. I think I was 23 and these folks were smart, successful, very accomplished people. They didn’t have an opportunity to go to school because they worked in family businesses or cared for siblings. I met some of the most interesting people ever in that program. It was so ironic to me that I was the person certifying their credentials to earn a high school diploma.”
Mrs. Cain was appointed to work as a guidance counselor at Huntington High School in 1987. “The director of guidance at the time was Dr. Edward Finn,” she said. “He was a wonderful mentor and supervisor.” She served as student council co-advisor for several years and gained the trust of students, parents and her colleagues.
“One of the things I feel pretty proud of was working with the Family Service League to start the Grandfriends program,” said Mrs. Cain about the club that works with local senior citizens. “Our first senior, senior prom was nothing like what current advisor Suzie Biagi does now, but we got a good thing going.”
Mrs. Cain transferred from her position as a high school guidance counselor in 2000, taking up residence at Woodhull Intermediate School as the dean of students. “It was my first job working with younger students and I had much to learn,” she said. “The staff was wonderful and welcoming to me. Some of my favorite parts of the job were running a bully prevention program, starting a peer mediation program and advising the student council with Maryann Sacher, a physical education teacher at the school.”
Huntington’s Special Education PTA honored Mrs. Cain and social worker Vilma Matos in 2004 for their exceptional work with students.
While her efforts at Woodhull School were admired, Mrs. Cain knew when it was time for a change. “I hated the discipline part of the dean job and really wasn’t very good at it,” she said. “So after six years I decided it was time to get back to counseling and in 2007 I moved to Finley.”
It didn’t take long for Mrs. Cain to be embraced by members of the Finley family. She goes about her work each day with professionalism and confidence. She is always ready, willing and able to help the seventh and eighth graders she works with.
“Without a doubt, middle school counseling is the hardest work I have ever done,” Mrs. Cain said. “The social and emotional needs of students in this stage of development are unmatched. I love my colleagues at Finley and feel especially proud of the work I do with the mental health team. My colleagues, Kathryn Costa, Mary DiBenedetto, Vilma Matos, Nancy Moran, Phil Lowe and Ken Parham collaborate weekly to develop plans to help and support our students who are struggling in one way or another.”
Mrs. Cain said she has “enjoyed” being the advisor of Finley’s community club and Friends of the Earth club. She is supervising her 13th school counselor intern this fall.
Over the past eight school years, Mrs. Cain has truly found a home at the middle school. “Finley should win an award for being the school that has the staff with the best sense of humor,” she said.
Mrs. Cain and her husband, Larry are the parents of two children. Their son, Brian is an ocean engineer and their daughter, Allie works as a recreational therapist. The family takes delight in spending time together at their summer home in Maine.
“I have loved all my positions in the Huntington School District and I am very aware of how fortunate I am to have a job that I love,” Mrs. Cain said.