When Natalie Amason moved to Centralia in the middle of her freshman year, she didn’t expect it to change the trajectory of her life. She didn’t even expect to stay. But life, as she would come to learn, doesn’t always follow the script. What began as a midyear transfer from a larger school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, slowly became something deeper: a sense of community, belonging, and ultimately, a purpose-driven career in the very town she once imagined leaving for good.

Natalie joined Centralia High School as a sophomore, navigating a transition that was both socially and structurally challenging. “Coming from a block schedule, it wasn’t a seamless shift,” she recalls. “And it was hard, honestly, to walk into a place where everyone had grown up together. But Centralia welcomed me in ways I didn’t expect. I made real friends. I was voted to the homecoming court my junior year—that was a sign that I was starting to find my place.”

Though she didn’t gravitate toward sports or band, she found her footing through cross country and track. It wasn’t about standing out; it was about being allowed in. “I came from a school where, if you weren’t already a top athlete, you didn’t even try out. But at Centralia, I got to be part of the team. That mattered.”

After graduating in 2004, Natalie followed a practical path forward: her parents offered to pay for two years at Kaskaskia College, and she decided to make the most of it. “I didn’t want to just mark time,” she says. “KC had a great nursing program, and I knew I wanted a career that would carry me. Plus, I figured a hospital might eventually help pay for further schooling.”

That plan worked. After earning her RN at KC, she moved to Colorado and earned both her BSN and Master’s degree from the University of Colorado, ultimately becoming a nurse practitioner. She lived and worked in Denver and later North Carolina, finding success in her field—especially in dermatology, where she felt a growing sense of alignment between her skills and her heart.

But something unexpected happened after her children were born. Natalie and her husband, Justin—also a CHS graduate, Class of 2000—decided to return to Centralia. It was supposed to be temporary. It wasn’t.

“I came back thinking I’d stay just long enough to get the kids through daycare,” she says. “But the more we rooted here, the more I saw the value in raising them in this kind of community.”

Natalie now works as a nurse practitioner at a dermatology clinic in Centralia—the same one where she was once a patient as a teenager. Under the mentorship of Dr. Nahas, she helped build the practice into a full-time operation that now treats over 200 patients a week. “We’ve diagnosed more than 200 melanomas in the last five years and treated close to 4,000 skin cancers,” she says. “We’re bringing specialty care right here, so people don’t have to drive to Mount Vernon or St. Louis. That makes a difference.”

She sees the impact daily—not just in medical outcomes, but in the relationships she’s built. “These are the people I grew up with, or the teachers who taught me, or their families. There’s a trust here. A loyalty. And that goes both ways.”

Her work has only expanded since the clinic was acquired by Schweiger Dermatology, a large national network with locations from Manhattan to California. “What’s amazing is that we’re now part of this broader system, but we’re still offering top-tier care right here in Centralia,” she says. “We’re being recognized nationally, but our roots are local.”

Natalie’s children—Scout and Thomas—are now students in Centralia schools. She knows there are people who question why she would choose to raise her kids in a small town when she’s seen what bigger cities have to offer. Her answer is simple: “Big doesn’t always mean better. I know who my kids are around. I know this community. And that matters more to me than the fanciest museum or the newest store.”

She never imagined this life. But now, she wouldn’t trade it. “I thought I was giving something up when I came back. But really, I was stepping into something fuller, something more rewarding. Centralia gave me a second chance—not just to build a career, but to build a life.”

From an uncertain transplant to a trusted healthcare provider, Natalie Amason has found her way home. And in doing so, she’s proving that opportunity doesn’t always lie in what you leave—it often grows from what you return to, with open arms and open eyes.