Meet Cory Tomovick, Reading Specialist at CHS’s Owen School in the Black Hills. Cory works for the Rapid City School District and provides reading intervention instruction at CHS.

“It is a privilege to do this work,” Cory says. “For the most part I get to work one-to-one with students who are below grade levels on reading for 20 minutes daily. I do my job and kids improve as readers.”

“It is meaningful and necessary work, and it has solidified my belief we are here to help others, especially those most at risk.”

But that’s not all Cory does. She’s also a veteran singer, songwriter and storyteller who performs a one-woman show under the name Cory Cavill called Welcome to the Frog Pond!

“It is the story of me reframing messages I have received throughout my life to help me heal and hopefully be a more fully functioning human,” says Cory.

The metaphor of the frog pond came from Cory’s childhood. “I grew up beside an actual frog pond. Inside the home where I was raised there was sometimes conflict, mixed messages, and a parent who struggled with addiction.”

“The outside natural world gave me a different message,” she says. “There, I knew I was part of something bigger, something beautiful. As I moved through the seasons of life, I used storytelling/songwriting to move through the tough spots. When I began putting the show together, I went back to where I began–the frog pond.”

Cory uses nature to illustrate our internal landscapes. For example, the life stages of a dragonfly could convey the idea of transforming our own lives. “Facing my own empty nest is discussed by exploring what a bird might say to its own fledglings.”

She continues. “A wild turkey believing it is a dog is used as a teaching moment. When we believe something we have been told that is a false message about who we are, it can be difficult to transcend, especially when we are told this message by people we love. But through storytelling we can take the stories of our lives and reframe them.”

Cory hails from a small community in western Montana near the Idaho border. “I have been singing since childhood and have always played around with words through rhymes and rhythm and other poetic devices,” she says.

Cory earned a BA and MA, along with teaching credentials, at the University of Montana. She traveled with Up With People for a year and moved to South Dakota in 1997. She has taught language arts at both the high school and middle school levels. “I have been a songwriter for over 35 years. For 10 years I participated in weeklong intensive songwriting workshops with nationally recognized folk artists,” she adds.

Today, Cory lives in Rockerville with her husband, Ken, and pets Bella and Tig. Her son is an officer in the Marine Corps and her daughter is a registered nurse in a hospice program in California.

And while Cory teaches CHS students, she also learns from them. “When I started working with the students at Owen School, I began reading books that zeroed in on how to heal from trauma. I discovered the idea that healing is about reshaping and reclaiming our own stories. That is when I went back to the frog pond of my childhood to reclaim my own voice in a new way.”

“Providing a space for children to heal is about teaching them to reframe and reclaim their stories. As an adult surrounding these children, I feel I must also be willing to do my own work to heal.”

Learn more about Cory at corycavill.com.