Inspiration Through Adaptability

Have you ever stood at a crossroads, unsure whether to follow your passion or the more practical path? Shannon Doughty knows this struggle well. As a dedicated educator with 31 years of experience, she shares how she transitioned from babysitting to considering a career in nursing, before finally discovering her true calling in education. Joined by scholarships and fellowships that paved her academic path, Shannon's story is a testament to resilience and the transformative power of education. Tune in as she opens up about her unfinished doctorate and the life experiences that have shaped her supportive approach to helping students overcome their own hurdles.

Transcript

Devin Pintozzi: 0:01

Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company. I am Devin Pintozzi, your host, and we are here at LaCue speaking with Shannon Doughty with Delta Charter Schools.

Shannon Doughty: 0:13

Yeah, that's it,

Devin Pintozzi: 0:14

Welcome, Shannon,

Shannon Doughty: 0:15

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Devin Pintozzi: 0:16

Thank you. What brings you to LACUE?

Shannon Doughty: 0:20

Well, this is my third year in Louisiana, and so I actually was able to come to LACUE for my third year in Louisiana, and so I actually was able to come to LACUE for my first year. So this is my third year. I presented last year in an Ignite session. I've done some presentations for their summer teacher or their leadership conferences and then applied and was able to come back and present this year. So I'm super excited.

Devin Pintozzi: 0:40

That is wonderful. So what is your current role in the school system?

Shannon Doughty: 0:44

I'm assistant principal at Delta Charter for the middle school or junior high and high school. I'm a retired educator from Mississippi. This is my 31st year in education

Devin Pintozzi: 0:54

Wow.

Shannon Doughty: 0:54

Yeah.

Devin Pintozzi: 0:55

Can you tell us a bit about your experience, why you chose to be an educator?

Shannon Doughty: 1:05

Oh gosh, so I always loved children babysat. I guess all the way coming through Really couldn't decide between nursing and teaching and honestly the nursing was more for the money, I think, than it was. I sometimes wonder oh, nursing, I could have been a great nurse, but I kind of get to do that on a daily basis anyway and not have to do with all the other stuff. But once I really honed in into the education, all the scholarships opened up. I received the William Winter Scholarship as undergrad. My master's degree was paid for through the Mississippi Teacher Fellowship Program and as well that NASA fellowship for my master's and then for my specialist and doctorate. I was able to work towards that. I did not finish my doctorate. My mom passed away. I did all the coursework and I tell people all the time life happens but just keep trudging through. That's one of the I've never not finished something and so um, but I don't let it. I don't dwell on it because I feel like I got the coursework.

Shannon Doughty: 1:56

I don't really need the letters to show that I love kids

Devin Pintozzi: 1:59

Oh sure of course

Shannon Doughty: 1:59

You know, and so, but that's one thing that I don't, that I kind of regret not finishing, but in the big picture of things it gave me the opportunity to meet people I would have never met and take courses that I thought I could never be good at, and so it helps me to help students that are struggling like axiomatic geometry, like I don't even know what I learned in that class, but I took it and I passed.

Shannon Doughty: 2:24

So it's just things like that. When I have a kid struggling algebra, it's like dude. I get it like axiomatic geometry, like I feel you. But don't give up don't give up you can do it so it did give me that opportunity

Devin Pintozzi: 2:37

That's great. So, uh, so you've had all these uh years and experience working with. Do you have a special moment where you felt like, wow, this was like why I got into teaching?

Shannon Doughty: 2:48

Oh gosh, there's so many, but one that really sticks out. I started out in elementary education, like I shared with you guys earlier, and I taught kindergarten first and sixth grade. Then I was coaching cheerleaders and of course they needed me at the high school, so in technology discovery. So that was my introduction to technology Y'all. I went I'm going to tell my age from DOS to Windows 3.1. Okay, did not know how to get. I had to have one of my sixth grade kids show me how to get from DOS to Windows and then I taught him in the ninth grade how to troubleshoot and build computers.

Devin Pintozzi: 3:22

Oh wow,

Shannon Doughty: 3:22

How crazy is that.

Devin Pintozzi: 3:23

That's a circle,

Shannon Doughty: 3:23

So in a three-year span, i was North Carolina. Explorenet was a company that came and trained me to do that and they filtered into Mississippi and we taught students how to build computers and the governor at the time wanted an Internet-accessible computer in each classroom. My kids built them. But one of the things was one of my students who struggled was taking my course and he just wasn't sure Like he was struggling with English, and at that time kids had to pass their English and math subject area test to stay in my program.

Shannon Doughty: 3:58

Well, he was struggling on those exams and so he didn't want to leave my program. He wanted to stay for second year and so I looked at my guidance counselor and my administrator at the time and I said if I can't get him to where he needs to be, then I'm not the teacher I need to be. So I kept in that second year. He passed both of his tests and he currently works in the networking world of computers. So that's one that really sticks out with me like don't ever judge a kid by a test score. We can work on them and push them through, and so that taught me a lot that year

Devin Pintozzi: 4:29

Oh, that is fantastic.

Shannon Doughty: 4:30

It was amazing.

Shannon Doughty: 4:31

So that's why I say don't judge me by my GRE. Like you know, the hard work comes along with it.

Devin Pintozzi: 4:37

It sure does. Well, I appreciate your passion to get the kids through and make sure that they achieve

Shannon Doughty: 4:43

Yeah. I truly love what I do. I'm very blessed.

Devin Pintozzi: 4:46

That is wonderful, and so your here at LACUE, so you're presenting.

Shannon Doughty: 4:51

I am, so today I'm talking a little bit about health and wellness. I'm also a personal trainer and fitness instructor in our local area.

Devin Pintozzi: 4:58

Wow.

Shannon Doughty: 4:59

And so what we try to do. I work also and help out with a Miss Lou Champion Spotlight, which we do an educational kind of spotlight each week. But we also focus on wellness Wednesdays, and so I help put out just the little thing on Facebook and Instagram little tidbits when you know Wednesday tip of the day. And we also do it at school, but it was implemented before I got there, but we just taken it up a notch with the kids. So we have like a storm advisory team and they get together and the kids now give you the tips of Wednesdays at school. But it's just focusing on how you can use AI for health and wellness, but then also know the balance between checking yourself out of technology too. So we're just going to talk about the balance of kids as well as taking care of ourselves. I think we take good care of our kids. We don't take care of ourselves. So we're going to focus a little bit on that today.

Devin Pintozzi: 5:48

Oh good, Everybody's going to be moving around.

Shannon Doughty: 5:52

Yeah, we're going to be moving around a little bit.

Devin Pintozzi: 5:54

That's awesome, Shannon, and is there anything you'd like to share with the LACUE community?

Shannon Doughty: 5:58

Just thankful for LACUE, especially. Coming in as a new educator in the state of Louisiana the first year I came made me feel very welcomed. I was able to network and meet a lot of people that I'm now working alongside and just very excited about that. So just grateful for the opportunity to network they give you plenty of time to do that and then to also kind of have believed in me, to give me the opportunity to share what I love with fellow educators.

Devin Pintozzi: 6:25

Oh, that's wonderful. Once again, Shannon Doughty with Delta Charter Schools.

Shannon Doughty: 6:29

Thank you so much for being part of us. Thanks for letting us sit and hang out.

Devin Pintozzi: 6:32

Yes, this is great.

Shannon Doughty: 6:33

Have a great day you too. Thanks again.