KANNAPOLIS — Patricia Ware, 40, is running for one of the two seats available to Cabarrus County candidates for the Kannapolis City Schools’ Board of Education.

The Kannapolis native is a single mother and self-employed hair stylist who studied at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and graduated from Carolina Beauty College in Charlotte.

Ware says she knows what it takes to get a child through Kannapolis City Schools — her own son graduated from A.L. Brown. While he was in school, Ware advocated for students and parents, volunteered, mentored, served on the dress code task force and provided meals and supplies for the school’s football and wrestling teams. And it’s work she’s still doing.

“I’m still doing it now,” she said, “even with my son graduated and gone.”

Ware was honored by the Board of Education in 2015 for excellent performance and exemplary dedication.

She said she can “bridge the gap” in communication that exists between parents, teachers and students in Kannapolis City Schools, and wants to ensure that students successfully make it through the school system.

“My ambitions is to get these kids steered in the right direction,” she said.

In Rowan County only residents living within the Kannapolis City Schools district may vote for Kannapolis City Schools board candidates. Voting for the Kannapolis Board of Education will be on March 15, in conjunction with the North Carolina primary. Newly elected members will be sworn in at the board’s April meeting.