Thursday, May. 14, 2009

Sharon Russell has been teaching for 34 years and shows no signs of stopping - at least not for a little while longer

Sharon Russell has been teaching for 34 years and shows no signs of stopping - at least not for a little while longer.

Sharon, who teaches reading at Black Water Middle School, says her husband - Charlie, who retired from the Air Force and now sells real estate - would like for her to retire, but she's not sure what she would do to fill her time.

"I might retire at 62," says the young-looking almost-61-year-old.

Sharon and her husband live in the Myrtle Beach National Golf Course subdivision, near Carolina Forest High School. They have two children, Stephen and Melinda, and four grandchildren. Stephen, 39, is in the Air Force, assigned to the Pentagon. Melinda, 36, also is a teacher in Horry County.

Sharon has taught every grade, from pre-kindergarten to 12th, and taught for a Department of Defense school in South Korea. She prefers teaching middle school students - even though she thinks it is the hardest age group to teach - because she knows what a pivotal, transitional time it is in their lives.

"It really is a make or break age," Sharon says. "If you can take one or two and change that direction, if they were headed down the wrong track, that's what it's all about."

In addition to teaching a reading-intervention program called Read 180 - in which students work in large groups, smaller groups and individually on computers - she leads the school's Junior Beta Club.

Thirty-nine students complete school and community service projects every month. In April the club raised more than $5,000 for the American Cancer Society during a local Relay for Life event. Each year the special group of students - who must maintain a B grade average, excellent behavior and strong character - goes to the Junior Beta state conference, during which they compete in math, scrapbooking and more. Although the conference is in Myrtle Beach, Russell has the Black Water students stay in the conference hotel in order to enjoy the full experience.

Sharon says it's important for schools to offer clubs such as Beta to the students.

"It shows them how important service is," Sharon says. "If you teach them that at this age, it's going to stick with them."

At the beginning of each school year, Sharon sends home a two-page letter to parents introducing herself - and her family. Her love for her family members and their importance in her life also is reflected in Sharon's room at school, which is full of family in the form of framed photos.

Sharon strives to be a well-rounded person - and being a loving wife, mother and grandmother; and good friend and colleague is a big part of that. One of the last paragraphs in Sharon's introductory letter sums it up: