Values Ambassador Spotlight: Rebekah Blakely

Value: Service | Nominated by: Alex Kimmel

Before becoming a BCBA, Rebekah spent nearly nine years building her Heartspring career and learning what effective student support looks like from multiple perspectives. She began as a part-time direct support professional, later became a Registered Behavior Technician and intake specialist, and pursued her master’s degree before becoming a BCBA in April 2026.

What began as a job during college became a career centered on helping students and the people around them succeed. Rebekah loved working in direct care, but becoming a BCBA gave her an opportunity to broaden her impact by helping more staff understand why students respond the way they do and how individualized support can create new opportunities for growth.

Her nominator, special education teacher Alex Kimmel, sees the thought and effort behind that work firsthand.

“Rebekah brings dedication, compassion, reliability, and a willingness to do whatever she can to make a difference in her students’ and coworkers’ lives,” Alex said.

Many Heartspring students arrive after experiencing multiple programs, therapists, and interventions. Finding what works can require significant creativity and persistence. Rebekah creates opportunities for staff to contribute their observations and ideas, considers whether recommendations are realistic in practice, and avoids writing plans she hasn’t tried herself. For Rebekah, education provides an important foundation, but individual students ultimately determine what effective support looks like.

It’s so important to get input from everyone working on a student’s team, because when we all put our brains together, we can do really cool things.

– Rebekah Blakely

Angela Shack, the lead paraprofessional in Alex’s classroom, sees that approach reflected in Rebekah’s everyday interactions with the team.

“Rebekah has cultivated a culture of communication, availability, and collaboration. It has been my pleasure to work alongside her,” Angela said.

Rebekah sees the greatest impact when the staff working with students every day have the understanding, relationships, and tools they need to support progress. Her supervisor, Hannah Harvey, says Rebekah models what she asks of others.

“Rebekah leads by example and consistently practices what she trains and encourages others to do,” Hannah said. “Her attention to detail, unwavering dedication, and student-centered approach help our students and staff overcome barriers that make programming both effective and individualized.”

Although recognized for Service, Rebekah says two other Heartspring values help define her approach: Possibility and Celebration. She looks for ways to turn “no” or “never” into “yes” or “let’s try,” creating opportunities for students to participate more fully at Heartspring and in their communities.

I feel corny celebrating so much sometimes. I make a big deal out of it, but that can go a long way.

– Rebekah Blakely

Rebekah models that celebration for staff and regularly recognizes her coworkers because she knows challenging work deserves to be seen. She brings the same mentality to problem-solving, remaining flexible and recognizing that the best answer often comes from working together.

Service at Heartspring means bringing your expertise to the table while making room for the expertise of others. By investing in individualized solutions and the people carrying them forward, Rebekah strengthens the teams surrounding our students and creates more opportunities for everyone to thrive.

At Heartspring, we value excellence, celebration, leadership, service, possibility, and integrity.

Our Values Ambassadors put Heartspring’s mission into action — going above and beyond to empower children to realize their full potential, support families, and help young people build skills for life beyond our campus.