English teacher of 33 years, Rhonda Shelton, has been announced as Teacher of the Year. Shelton’s aunt was a teacher and inspired her to become one herself. When Shelton was 16 her missionary group needed someone to teach the class, so she asked if she could try. The group grew really fast and became one of the best programs they’ve had.

“I loved it,” Shelton said. “I realized that I really enjoyed helping people learn new things and that’s kind of where it began.”

After graduating from Baylor with a bachelor’s in education, specializing in English and sociology, and getting her masters at SMU, Shelton became a middle school teacher for El Paso Middle School. Three years later she became a teacher at Garland High School, and has been a high school teacher ever since.

“I like the deeper thinking that the high school students have,” Shelton said. “I also love preparing them for their futures. I would consider my teaching style to be very flexible, it all depends on what the student or class needs.”

Shelton has made a lot of close friends during her time at the school, and no one was surprised when she was announced as this year’s winner.

“She is the most selfless person I know,” said English teacher and friend of Shelton for three years, Karen Fredericks. “The amount of hours she puts in is simply amazing. She definitely deserves this award.”

However, Shelton’s life hasn’t always looked so good. Growing up in poverty, and coming from a very dysfunctional home filled with drugs and alcohol, she struggled as a student in school. Both of her parents dropped out of high school.

“Since we were struggling so much, my parents knew education was key,” Shelton said.

When Shelton first started elementary school, she missed a lot of days because of sickness. She ended up having to get her tonsils taken out, and missing so many days made her fall behind.

“My mom was trying to teach me how to read,” Shelton said. “But having dropped out as a junior, teaching a kid how to read when you are struggling yourself was really hard.”

Shelton’s second grade teacher called home one day to tell her parents that she was really sweet but not really smart. The teacher told her mom that if Shelton received 70’s then she should be proud.

“That was really the motivation I needed,” Shelton said.

Having a ‘if you say I can’t, I’ll show you I can’ personality, Shelton was determined to show her teacher wrong. Shelton successfully did this by graduating number 27 out of almost 1,000 from Bryan Adams High School in Dallas.

“I wanted to rub it in that teachers face,” Shelton said. “It might have not been easy, but I still did it.”

With all of the struggles Shelton has gone through and with 33 years of hard work and dedication, she is now being rewarded for it.

“‘Oh my goodness’ was the first thing I said when I found out I won,” Shelton said. “You don’t get a lot of feedback being a teacher. You hear about your students’ success and you know you have a part in that, but that’s about it. Getting an award like this makes all the hard work mean a lot more.”