Shelly moved to Virden 22 years ago but grew up in Lawrenceville, Illinois. She initially stepped into Waverly Elementary in 2015 as an art and library instructor, integrating STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) into her curriculum. With the onset of COVID-19, her teaching range expanded, welcome or not. “I was teaching kindergarten science online while doing secondgrade social studies and science. I was also doing a lot of math and reading intervention,” she recollects with a laugh. The challenges she remembers, and the joys from conquering her ever-changing roles remain.

Shelly has always had an affinity for fourth-graders. “They’re smart enough and clever enough to be funny in a way that adults can understand. And they’re more independent, so you can push them to think beyond just the text,” she explains. She relishes the depth of conversations she can have with her fourthgrade students, whether it’s studying character motives in a novel or exploring social issues that have implications far beyond the classroom walls.

The tides of teaching didn’t roll immediately to Shelly’s shores. With an initial degree in Mass Communications, she spent years doing public relations for St. Mary’s Health Service. Her passion for writing almost took her down the graduate school path. But a chance stint as a substitute teacher while her husband, an Air National Guardsman, was deployed changed the entire course of her future. Friends noticed her natural gift for teaching and encouraged her to seek a teaching license. “I fell in love with it,” she admits. “I always wanted to teach when I was younger, but I let people talk me out of it. Now, I know I’m a better teacher for taking the scenic route to get here.”

Shelly describes her teaching style as strict but loving. “I’m tough because I have rules and expectations. But I like to think my students know I care about them because I have these expectations,” she says. It’s a delicate balance that fosters both discipline and emotional safety.

Her connection to her students is easily observed even if you only momentarily pass by her classroom. “I’ve already had relationships with these kids since they were babies,” she says. The sense of family that creates close ties in her classroom is one of the reasons why briefly leaving was so difficult and returning was so natural. “God’s telling me I have to go back,” she recalls thinking after seeing her past students at a graduation ceremony. “These are my people.”

When Shelly isn’t crafting lesson plans or engaging her students, she loves to read and write fiction, which is no surprise given that writing is her favorite subject to teach young wordsmiths. Her rural upbringing comes to life at home, where she has everything from tomatoes and flowers to lizards and dogs to wrangle. “I grew up on a farm, so caring for plants and animals is part of who I am,” she shares.

Shelly Wagner’s classroom is a ritual circle of knowledge. It’s a loudspeaker broadcasting a kind of dedication, innovation, and love that so many teachers in our smaller communities bring with their lunch pails every day. In a world that often looks to larger city schools for inspiration, it reminds us that sometimes the most inspiring stories are right in our district’s backyard. In Waverly, near the heartened core of Illinois, Shelly Wagner has found her calling and community. And her students, past and present, would agree they have found a remarkable teacher and a true advocate. For Shelly, teaching isn’t just a job; it’s like coming home.