TRHS alum captures top teaching recognition

Seeing the light bulb come on when a child finally gets what is being taught is the most rewarding experience of Sonia Griffin Shelton’s teaching career. The Twin Rivers High School graduate recently was named Rockwood School District Teacher of the Year.

The Rockwood School District, headquartered in Eureka, serves students in St. Louis County and is the county’s largest public school system, serving 22,268 students.

Shelton’s dad is Otto Griffin, who lives in Qulin with his wife, Nancy. Her mother is Shiron Barr and she lives in Poplar Bluff with her husband, Richard.

After graduating high school in 1989, Shelton went into the Army because, “I needed the GI Bill to afford college. I exited the Army in 1991 on an honorable discharge because I was pregnant.”

She found herself, at 19, parenting a daughter and not knowing how to accomplish her goals.

“My mom encouraged me to go to college,” she said.

At first, she pursued programs only two years in length.

“I needed to be able to financially support my daughter,” Shelton said.

Stopping the cycle of poverty was important to Shelton. After completing two semesters at Three Rivers College, one in computer programming and one in nursing, she realized, “I would not be happy unless I earned my teaching certification. I do not know what the exact impetus behind this choice was, but I have always had a passion for helping those less fortunate.”

Children need a strong advocate dedicated to providing a quality education for them, Shelton believes.

“I taught in low-income schools for the first 14 years of my career,” she said.

During those years, she taught special education, fifth and sixth grade regular education, gifted education and Title I math, and also served as a process coordinator and school psychological examiner for two years.

After teaching 14 years, she had her third daughter and stayed at home for two years.

When she decided to return to education, “I applied for many positions and was offered the job at Rockwood,” she said.

For the first six of nine years, Shelton worked as a school psychological examiner, administering IQ and achievement assessments to kindergarten-12th grade students.

During this time, she completed her specialist degree and became certified as a school psychologist.

When the position of student support specialist became available, Shelton applied for it.

This past year, because of the pandemic, “we have not had students in our building and I was not able to visit students in their buildings. As a result, I have worn many hats, including Canvas development, testing and filling in for one of the teachers by teaching first to fifth grade gifted students for two months.”

Canvas development is designed to help school leaders to scale guaranteed, professional development curriculum to promote collective educator efficacy and accelerate student achievement.

“It was during this time my co-workers got to see me as an innovative educator and student advocate,” she said. “One of my colleagues commented she did not realize how talented I was because I had always worked on the peripheral to support students and teachers.”

As a student support specialist in Rockwood’s gifted program, Shelton supports the behavioral, social and academic needs of gifted students in grades kindergarten through fifth grades.

“It was an opportunity to return to education after a two-year hiatus,” she said. “Rockwood is an amazing school district to work for, and even though it is a very large school district, the building I work in is much smaller with few staff members. They have become my second family.”

She has held many different positions during the past 23 years and “one thing I found in every position and in every school district is there are always students who need to be loved, supported, accepted, challenged and seen.” .

“I love being the person who can do this for students who feel marginalized or overlooked because they have challenges that inhibit them from reaching their full potential,” Shelton said. “The most rewarding experiences in my career are seeing the light bulb go off when a child finally gets what is being taught and when you see a child find their voice because they finally believe in themselves, and in some small way, I get to be a part of it.”

Shelton will complete her doctorate program in one year. She is researching the under representation of culturally, linguistically, economically and educationally disadvantaged students in gifted programs.

“I am currently part of a team, where I work, that is striving to create a plan to enable more students from these populations access to gifted education,” she said.

“I spend a lot of time researching mental illnesses because our family has been negatively impacted by them; so, I try to understand as much as I can about what causes them, how to treat them and how to support your loved ones who suffer from them,” she continued.

While Shelton explained she is “going through training to be a foster parent, most of my free time is spent researching material for my dissertation.”

She and Kevin Shelton have been married for 25 years.

Her three children are, Cortney, 29, Ashley, 24, and Abigail , 10. She also has three grandchildren, Oliver, Lily and Matthew.

She loves to fish, bargain shop, travel, read, spend time at the beach and “just chill with my family.”

Shelton attends Ignite church and is a Southern Baptist.