“I've wanted to be a nurse since I was a little bitty girl,” Lonon said. “That’s all I’ve ever dreamed of.”

Raised by a single father who worked as a paramedic instructor, Lonon spent part of her childhood tagging along to certification classes at hospitals, where she saw both teaching and nursing in action. Those experiences left a lasting impression.

“I loved going to the classes at the hospital,” she said. “And the ER nurses there inspired me to be a nurse.”

Lonon worked for many years as a registered nurse with Mission Health in emergency care, cardiac stress testing, and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. During her nursing career, she also found herself informally mentoring students during hospital clinical rotations.

“When nursing students would come in, my former clinical instructor would be like, ‘Hey, I’m going to give my students to you,’” she said. “And I would work with them.”

Eventually, former colleagues encouraged her to try teaching full-time.

Sure enough, she said, “I just fell in love with it.”

Lonon began teaching at McDowell Technical Community College in March 2020 as an adjunct instructor before transitioning into a full-time faculty role in January 2026.  

She is the nurse aide lead instructor, teaching students the foundations of patient care.

“We lecture on the whys behind what we do,” Lonon said, “and then we take them to a lab. We have them do nail care, foot care for each other, brush each other’s teeth. This helps them develop empathy toward their patients.”

The lab at McDowell Tech is designed to simulate a nursing home room, allowing students to practice real-world skills in a supportive environment. Most students in Lonon’s classes will become CNAs, though some will go on to fill other roles like ultrasound technicians or dental hygienists.

After working in the lab, students move into clinical settings and begin working directly with residents in long-term care facilities.

“That’s my favorite part,” Lonon said. “You see all of that come together, and it clicks, and you see students fall in love with it even more.”

She sees her role as especially important in a region with a growing aging population and ongoing healthcare workforce shortages.

“We have such a shortage of nurses,” Lonon said. “We want to turn out good nurses.”

Lonon described teaching as a kind of ministry — work rooted in service, faith, and caring for others. The job can be exhausting at times. Long days in skills labs and clinicals can leave instructors drained. But Lonon said the energy she gets from students outweighs the challenges.

“Watching those moments where they click, it does get energizing,” she said. “It’s fun to go to a facility and see your former students working and doing a good job. It just feels like we’re improving care for our residents in North Carolina.”

Just months after Lonon became a full-time faculty member, she was presented with McDowell Tech’s Excellence in Teaching Award. She was selected following a nomination process driven largely by student feedback. She is quick to redirect any praise toward her coworkers. The award, one of the college’s highest honors, recognizes a single instructor, but Lonon sees it as a celebration of an entire department.

“I feel like I’m just representing our nursing department,” she said. “We just make a really good team. It always has felt like home. Our motto is ‘right where you belong,’ and I truly feel like it’s where I belong.”