Albuquerque educator Cyntella Shaver is contemplating retiring from teaching at the end of this school year, something she did in 2009 before the lure of the classroom brought her back again as a volunteer.
Shaver has been helping Mrs. Leo Russell teach first-graders at Susie Rayos Marmon Elementary School, a duty Shaver first began in 1989.
“Mrs. Shaver has been at this school for, well, ever since it opened,” Russell told KOB 4 recently. “She’s my right-hand man. So, if I’m thinking it, she’s usually doing it about five seconds later.”
Hailing from a big family, Shaver noted that she was teaching her siblings long before she led her own classroom.
“Well, let’s see I’m the oldest of ten children, so I taught most of my life,” she told KOB 4.
Shaver attended the University of New Mexico before getting her first official job and career that continues to this day.
“Ms. Marmon told Laguna stories or legends long ago,” Shaver said of the namesake of the school at which she has taught for so many years. “Here at our new school, these stories are being told once again, teaching us about our past, and giving us strength to build a bright and rewarding future.”
Shaver enjoys her time as a volunteer, a role she has embraced for more than a decade.
“I can do what I want to do and work with the kids,” she said. But she added that this could be her last year.
