Shauna

It may be Shauna Murphy’s first year as a teacher at Ashland Middle School, but it’s a position she’s been preparing for for a long time. “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” she says, and for the past 3 years, she’s worked as an Educational Assistant on the Siskiyou and Manzanita teams. This year, she jumped at the opportunity to teach the AMS Leadership class as well lead a 6th grade homeroom. “I’m interested in building school community and helping kids develop respect and show kindness to one another. From my perspective, kids are coming back well from the pandemic and distance learning. I’m seeing a lot of kindness among them.”

Born in Ashland, Shauna’s family moved to McMinnville when she was 7. She came back to Ashland in 2001 to study Spanish at SOU. She now has two kids, Bella, who is 13 and at Siskiyou School, and Brian, who is 11 and at Trails Outdoor School. They also have a sweet cat named Coco. Shauna loves to garden, run (she may do The Monster Dash), travel (Portugal is her favorite memory), camp, and read (Hemingway’s Across the River and Into the Trees is a recent favorite).

About being at AMS, Shauna says, “I’m so thrilled to have this opportunity to teach. It’s a dream come true. The staff is so supportive, and the kids are wonderful.” We feel the same way about Shauna.