Cedar Ridge High School English Teacher Shelly Jipp learned the fundamentals for a good education and life from dedicated teachers while she was growing up. It was in public school classrooms that she learned the importance of responsibility, accountability and possibility, all of which she passes along to her students.
Jipp, who teaches English, has been selected as the 2017 Teacher of the Year at Cedar Ridge. Jipp has been an educator for 13 years, six of which have been at Cedar Ridge.
The dedication Jipp felt from her former teachers greatly influences her current teaching style. Not only did her teachers feed students the knowledge and skills, they also enabled students to use the skills, Jibb said.
“I teach the curriculum, but not in a vacuum and not to names on a seating chart,” Jipp said. “I share my passion for reading and writing, along with discussions about what literacy can mean to their lives. I do all I can to know who my students are and how my classes can fuel their own passions.”
As an involved student, Jipp played volleyball, ran track, was involved in the school theatre program and was a cheerleader, all while making good grades in high schools. Staying active is essential to becoming a well-rounded student and community member, Jipp said, and she works daily to get students excited about being in school and getting involved in the community.
“The best teachers recognize that their real job is to prepare students to be able to join in the conversations happening all around them, to prepare them to participate in life,” Jipp said. “My measure of success is not how many of my students graduate and head off to college, but how many of them are able to live up to their own measure of success years down the road.”
Jipp serves as the English department chair and is the sponsor of the Cedar Ridge Student Council and Raider Round Table. Her endless passion for serving students and campus culture makes Jipp an outstanding staff member and Teacher of the Year, Cedar Ridge Principal Lynette Thomas said.
“Shelly is the first to volunteer for anything extra and she truly loves what she does because of the kids,” Thomas said. “She such a positive force and recently started the ‘Kindness Matters’ campaign on our campus. Cedar Ridge is so much better because of Shelly Jipp.”
