Teaching: One generation to the next

In movies, there are numerous scenes where a parent shows up at their children’s school and embarrasses them. Whether it be honking the horn at carline, waving to their child’s crush, or announcing in front of everyone “this is my baby,” it’s humiliating and often cringe-worthy.

So imagine this humiliation continuing all the way into the child’s career. This would seem to be the case for teachers Sonya Stowe, Matt Shelton, and Christopher Gee. They all work alongside one of their parents, but unlike the movies, they are proud to be at Tunstall with their family and value the time spent together.

Rachel Stowe returned to her alma mater in 1989 as a substitute and her daughter, Sonya, came in 2011 as a Spanish teacher.

Rachel describes working together as “as a joy.”

“We are best friends and I love that she has come home to Tunstall to be back with her dad and me,” she said.

Sonya feels the same way.

“Our time working together has been great because I get to work with one of my best friends.”

Their only con is “trying to decide which ‘Stowe’ people are looking for” and having to address phone calls/letters intended for the other.

Barry Shelton and Matt Shelton cherish teaching together, as well, and coaching baseball. Barry started teaching math at Tunstall 33 years ago, while his son, Matt, started teaching physical education this past year.

“It is enjoyable for [Matt] to be a part of our faculty and I am very proud of him,” said Barry.

Growing up Matt wanted to be a teacher and hoped to be employed at Tunstall because it’s “like a home away from home” to him.

“I like working with my dad because it reminds me of my childhood and the time we spent together,” said Matt. He recalled memories of watching his father coach wrestling, baseball, and football as a child.

Currently, Barry is the head varsity baseball coach while Matt is the head junior varsity coach. Barry has coached for 17 years and Matt started in 2007.

“Being that Matt is my son, it’s very easy to communicate on a daily basis on the progress of our junior varsity team,” said Barry.

Christopher Gee and Patricia Gee also consider the Tunstall area to be home. Patricia began teaching math here in 2002 and her son started as a science teacher this year after being at Dan River High School. Like the Stowes and Sheltons, they have no complaints about working together.

“It’s just fine [working] with my mom. I get to see her more than I normally would, which is nice. Nothing weird at all,” said Christopher.

“I like having Chris here. I get to see him everyday. If he works somewhere else, I may only see him twice a month as opposed to almost daily. Having family so close is wonderful and refreshing. Being able to talk to Chris makes me happy. I can’t think of any negative aspects of him working here,” said Patricia.

These teachers aren’t the only ones who spend the school day together. Fletcher and Clay Hardy as well as Sarah Goard and Travis Shelton see their parents at Tunstall daily, too. The only difference is these guys and girls aren’t teaching; they’re students themselves.

Tammy Shelton is the mother to sophomore Travis and recent Tunstall graduate, Samantha. She has had one of her children as a student for the past 5 years.

“Teaching with Travis here is great. Teaching [here] allows me to know their friends and keep up with what’s going on,” said Tammy.

Tammy and her son also eat lunch together since Travis is in her 3rd block geometry class.

“Since I have my mom for geometry, people expect me to do well in her class. Everyone expects me to pass the geometry SOL just because my mom teaches it,” said Travis.

One of his favorite parts about having his mom nearby is food.

“She always has food and snacks in her classroom. I can get snacks when I’m hungry.”

Kendra Hardy, also a math teacher, is the mother to freshman Clay Hardy and junior Fletcher Hardy. She has taught Fletcher already and will have Clay next year for pre-cal.

How do they make it work?

“I try really hard to give [the boys] their space and not invade their privacy. I do tease Fletcher sometimes about showing up to eat lunch with him and his friends in the cafeteria. He doesn’t think it’s funny,” laughed Kendra.

“It doesn’t really bother me that she teaches here because she stays out of my business,” said Clay.

Fletcher likes having his mother here because “she is there if you need her,” but also brings up the point that he “can’t lie about doing homework.”

Clay agreed and said, “She keeps my Gatorades cool for baseball games, but she finds out if you get in trouble.”

Like Mrs. Hardy, marketing teacher, Mrs. Goard is a graduate from GW high school, but a Trojan at heart.

Mrs. Goard came to Tunstall in response to an opening position in the marketing department. She was quick to take on the position with assurance that she was entering a great school; not to mention, “[The school] is only a few minutes from her home.”

Teaching at the same school that her daughter, junior Sarah Goard, attends “has been wonderful.”

Sarah agrees, “ With my busy schedule, if she wasn’t here, I would never see her!”

Sarah had to refer to her mother as “Mrs. Goard” only once; her tenth grade year she was a student in Mrs. Goard’s Intro to Marketing class. Both Sarah and Mrs. Goard believed that being in the same classroom would be “weird,” however, both of them were pleasantly surprised.

Sarah concluded, “I like that my friends and I have her here to go to if there’s a problem.  She’s everyone’s ‘school mom’.”

The role of a teacher is to inspire, to motivate, to support those around them, parallel to that of a parent’s. Very few people ever get to be both to their children or work alongside their loved ones like these teachers and students.