Celebrating Pine Islanders: Nichole Pichon
Regardless of her role as a teacher at Pine Island Elementary, a mentor and coordinator of an afterschool program, co-leader of the PILOT (Pine Island leaders of Tomorrow) Program, founder and president of Pine Island Playhouse, Kiwanian Nichole Pichon says she simply has a heart for Pine Island kids.
Her family moved to Pine Island in the 1970s, before she was even born, although she moved out with her husband Paul in 2012. While visiting for Christmas one year, Pichon explained, she was having a conversation with her cousin, late, beloved artist, Mel Meo, and she had gone on in some detail about the frustrations of her job in Indianapolis.
“Mel said, ‘Just move down here and start a community theatre.’ So, I did that. It was December. I went back and made the decision to leave in January or February,” Pichon said.
Due to having come here so often throughout her childhood, Pichon said, she always loved Pine Island and thought it was a very unique place, where she was able to enjoy the freedom to explore being an artist along with her cousin, as they often painted together.
“It always felt like the place that I wanted to be — based on Mel really. She was the reason I came here and started Pine Island Playhouse. I knew if I had her behind me I would be able to pull this off,” Pichon said.
In Pichon’s opinion, there are not many places like Pine Island left in the country. Defining it for someone who has never heard of it, she said, would be summed up as a close-knit community where everyone still looks out for one another. She said she can’t help but think of the island as small town America.
In her mission to bring a community theatre to the island, Pichon said, the goal was to ensure locals could enjoy shows, free of charge, which she has done successfully for 10 years now, by declining money, outside of donations for productions. As far as keeping the youth from getting into trouble or developing bad habits as teens, Pichon said the proof is in the results for both the afterschool program as well as youth involvement in the Pine Island Playhouse.
“I was actually looking at the numbers of teenage crime and the numbers have dropped since we have been running afterschool programs. The community theatre alone is a huge thing, where people can participate,” Pichon said.
Nothing Pichon has done in working with the youth in the afterschool programs or in theatre productions has ever been about the money for her or her husband Paul, who do much of their own fundraising for projects.
“Time is the most valuable commodity I have to offer and I give a lot of my time to the island,” Pichon said.
Overall, Pichon said she hopes the youth grow to appreciate all they have had access to on Pine Island, from the support they’ve received, to ensure their future success.
“I already see it in a lot of my kids who have graduated and gone off to go to college and they have that knowledge that where they came from is very special. I see them coming back and giving some of their time back to the community. I want it to be a cycle. I want our kids to be supported and loved and if and when they get the chance — to do the same thing,” Pichon said.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email