Cunningham Named WANE TV's 2026 Remarkable Woman of the Year
Cunningham Named WANE TV's 2026 Remarkable Woman of the Year
VAN WERT, Ohio (WANE) – WANE 15 is proud to honor women making a difference in their communities, and we’re excited to name Rhonda Cunningham as the 2026 Remarkable Woman.
“It’s a team here,” Rhonda said at the surprise reveal that she was the winner. “From the district leaders, the staff, the students, I am so proud of all my kids.”
Family, friends, school staff, and her students gathered at the Goedde for the surprise.
“We’re excited and proud of her,” Rhonda’s daughter, Carson Cunningham, said. “I’m just really glad that the community recognizes how hard she works for everybody.”
“She is very compassionate,” said Bob Priest, Assistant Superintendent of Van Wert City Schools. “When she says she loves these guys, truly, she loves these students.”
Priest nominated Rhonda — and he’s also her brother.
Rhonda and her brother Robert hugging at her surprise.
Rhonda said when she started working at the Goedde, 76% of the students were on probation; now that number is less than 5%. She and the staff are teaching the students how to make better choices.
“The kids are not bad kids,” Rhonda said. “Not at all, the kids are amazing. It’s a unique way of teaching. One of the things that we stand behind here is, if you can’t learn the way we teach, we’ll teach the way you learn.”
Rhonda comes from a long line of educators, but it wasn’t always an avenue she wanted to pursue. She was in the field of accounting for some time, but once her kids were older, she decided to go back and get her elementary degree.
“I walked into my first subbing position with my degree, and my very first day there, I had a little third grader who was highly autistic, very unfamiliar with autism at that point, and stabbed me in the stomach,” explained Rhonda. “It changed my whole career that one little moment he intrigued me as to why and what, you know, what provoked it, and I was hooked, and so I immediately dug in.”
After numerous jobs in the education field in different towns and cities, she received a call to come back to her roots.
“I think she’s the epitome of what this school is,” said Priest. “She wears her heart on her sleeve. She loves the kids, she works hard, and I just thought she’s remarkable.”
Students helping at a food bank.
Through grants and the community’s support, Rhonda gives back to the students and teaches the students to give back to the Van Wert community.
“We’ve bridged relationships,” Rhonda said. “Community service is a huge aspect of what we do here. We’ve taught the kids that it’s so important to give back to this community, and it also builds that relationship with the members of our community, because our kids are hopefully going to stay here. They’re going to be working in our community.”
The students help with food drives, visit veterans in Van Wert and organize a boutique for families in the community to come pick out clothes for free, just to name a few acts of service.
“Definitely learn to become a part of the community,” said student Alyssa Jasztal, a junior. “To be a helping hand, to give stuff out to people who may be less fortunate than we are.”
“I don’t look at it as being remarkable,” said Rhonda. “It’s just to see what the need is, because we consider ourselves a family.”
Along with being a Remarkable Woman, Rhonda received $1,000 to give to the charity of her choice; she chose United Way of Van Wert County.
Rhonda will travel to Nashville to meet all the other remarkable women from Nexstar television stations across the country. You can then watch a special show highlighting all their achievements on Saturday, March 28, from 8-9 p.m. on WANE 15. Until then, WANE 15 will be highlighting other nominees on Tuesdays at 6.