Shannon Wagner

"Every child can learn under the right circumstances and given time," states Shannon Wagner, Principal of Houston Middle School, Burrell School District. You can hear her passion about reaching children that do not believe they can learn. It was molded by her childhood experience of growing up in a rural home where her mother was absent due to working long hours and the father wasn't present. The difficult life had left "a chip on my shoulder," as Mrs. Wagner puts it. Her mother had left her day-to-day care in the hands of a kind neighbor. But, by the age of 12 her mother died.

It was at this point of her young life that the neighbor who had been caring for her stood up and went to court to fight for her custody. It was this love and care for Shannon Wagner that changed her life. The court granted custody and her life began to change for the better. Mrs. Wagner said the one most important lesson her neighbor taught her was "don't become a victim of your circumstances." It was this encouragement and motivation that led Shannon Wagner to overcome her earlier experiences and go on to a successful career.

While in high school, Mrs. Wagner began to develop a strong interest in becoming a chemical engineer. Her chemistry teacher became a strong influence in her education that led to selecting Clarion University to pursue her chemistry degree. Two years into her college education she began to recognize that she was not happy with "long, lonely chemistry labs." Talking with her Faculty Advisor, she was told to revisit her high school chemistry teacher to discuss her future career. That resulted in changing her major, leading to a Bachelor of Science in General Science with a teacher certification in chemistry.

Graduating from Clarion in 1994, she took her first high school teaching position in chemistry at Bentworth School District in Washington County. After one year she did a short term at Plum School District then went to Penn Hills School District as a high school teacher in chemistry and then Middle School teacher in Physical Education. She furthered her education at Carnegie Mellon earning a Masters in Public Management that qualified her for educational administrative duties. After completing that degree, Penn Hills School District placed her as an Assistant Principal in the Middle School.

Mrs. Wagner was selected last year by Burrell School District to be Assistant Principal at Houston Middle School. She started in October 15th and was promoted to Principal this school year.

The Principal position is administrative and involves scheduling, budgets, instructional leadership, and working closely with teachers and support staff members. It also means accessibility to parents and telephone calls she attempts to have answered within 24 hours. Her position is not only administrative, but includes filling in as monitor for early morning arrivals, classroom "walk through," which entails observation of instructional methods, and lunchroom duties.

And, being a Principal of a Middle School, she tells us, "is all about the middle school receiving boys and girls from elementary and having them leave for high school as young men and women."

Mrs. Shannon Wagner is married to Scott and they have one child, 2-1/2 tear old Leesha.

Visit Burrell School District on the World Wide Web at http://wiu.k12.pa.us/burrell