Meet Shelby Ford
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Shelby is our Washington Elementary Media Para in the library.
Shelby’s joys in life include her family, music, reading any book she can get her hands on, and writing poetry. All of her spare time is spent with her husband and their two incredible daughters creating memories that she hopes they can look back on and smile. Shelby has always found herself in a caregiver role and truly believes that’s where her passion lies. Right out of high school she worked as a CNA for many years and has always felt pulled to help others. Shelby is currently employed with Ottumwa Regional Health Center as a Telemetry Technician to occasionally work weekends, on holiday breaks, and through the summer. Before her employment with the school district, Shelby worked for American Home Finding Association as a Youth Worker for their youth shelter as well as their group home located in Agency. Working there is when Shelby learned her heart is the happiest when making sure their youth feel seen, heard, and understood. Shelby began to figure out that behind every behavior is a statement, and felt drawn to learn their stories to better understand what they were communicating. With that, Shelby has been fortunate enough to make so many genuine connections that she holds very dear to my heart. Shelby has been with the school district for 4 years now, with this being her fifth school year. She began as a 1:1 associate for Special Education, and still finds herself floating down there if she has free time to see where she can help. Shelby recently moved into the Librarian position at Washington in December and has enjoyed being able to get to know all of the kids in the building. Being surrounded by books and helping kids fall in love with literature has been such a pleasure. It’s important to her that all of our students know they are safe and cared for while in our building, and she reminds them every chance she gets. Shelby’s Washington family is so special to her and she feels very fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful team.
A colleague stated the following about Shelby, “Shelby is such a role model to the kids and staff in our building. She is always there to diffuse a difficult situation and bring light to a positive one. She makes the most of every day and I always hear her yelling down the hallway for the kids to have a good day, night, or weekend. She remembers the kids by name and she makes EVERYONE feel special when they interact with her - staff included. The kids just naturally gravitate to her and I personally love knowing that my students will always feel loved by her when they cross her path. She does an excellent job every day and she deserves to be recognized for her greatness!”
Shelby, Thank you for making a difference and being a role model for our students! We are so glad you are part of the team.