LITTLE ROCK -- Growing up, Elouise Shorter was told by her grandmother she would become a teacher, a prediction Shorter rejected.
"Uh-uh, I'm not dealing with anyone else's kids," she remembers thinking.
Turns out, Shorter is going into her 19th year as a full-time teacher.
Ten days away from her 61st birthday, the Dollarway High School math instructor received quite an early present. She was announced as one of four semifinalists for 2023 Arkansas Teacher of the Year at the Governor's Mansion.
Surrounded by Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Barbara Warren, Dollarway High principals and others, Shorter was pleasantly shocked when the story of her grandmother's wise words led off the announcement of semifinalists.
Shorter's latest honor -- she is also the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative regional finalist -- is a point of success for the state-operated Pine Bluff School District, which was annexed with the three-campus Dollarway district last year.
"She deserves it," PBSD Superintendent Barbara Warren said. "I've experienced her as a superintendent. She taught my son and did a phenomenal job. I am so proud of her, and it is definitely a win for all of us."
Warren said she was given no advance notice that Shorter would be named one of Arkansas' top four teachers, but she was praying for favor to go Shorter's way.
"Even from the time we had our in-district banquet where we celebrated the Teacher of the Year from each building, that was uplifting," Warren said. "That said to the teachers, 'We love you. We appreciate you.' But their colleagues chose them, and then for her to lift up out of the voice of her colleagues and to get the regional honor and then a semifinalist, I think it lifts the entire profession and most definitely says to any teacher in the Pine Bluff School District, 'You are quality. You are worthy,' And people are seeing that."
WHAT'S NEXT
Other state semifinalists include Amber Leaton, an 11th- and 12th-grade social studies teacher at Bryant High School; Stephanie Long, a third-grade teacher at Walter Turnbow Elementary in Springdale; and Capri Salaam, a seventh- and eighth-grade social studies teacher at North Little Rock Middle School. They and Shorter were selected out of 13 regional finalists.
Sarah Sabbatini, a dyslexia interventionist and library media specialist at Portland Elementary in the Hamburg School District, was a regional finalist representing the Southeast Arkansas Educational Service Cooperative.
Each state semifinalist received a medallion and $1,000 prize from the Walton Family Foundation. Each regional finalist also received a $1,000 prize.
The state Teacher of the Year will be announced in December, state Education Commissioner Johnny Key said. A selection committee will conduct site visits for each semifinalist, with the winner eligible for the 2023 National Teacher of the Year competition.
The Arkansas honoree serves on the state Board of Education and in a temporary role with the Office of Educator Effectiveness and Licensure, assistant education commissioner Karli Saracini said.
"They really get to lead across the state for that whole year," Saracini said, noting the 2023 winner will begin her duties July 1, 2023 and serve through the 2023-24 school year. "It's really exciting. I mean, it's really, just the experience."
Jessica Saum, a special education teacher from Cabot, is the reigning state Teacher of the Year.
DOLLARWAY PRIDE
Shorter's newfound accolade is a huge win for Dollarway, Principal Leondra Williams noted.
"The best way I can describe Ms. Shorter, what people do not see -- and this is a perfect example -- we had a student to enroll who was actually in two maths because of a life experience," Williams said. "[The student] came later in the year. It was impossible for the student to be on target to graduate. Ms. Shorter gave up her planning period. We enrolled that student in her class. She taught one student so one student could get what she needed. She's a kid-by-kid, skill-by-skill lady. That's who she is. And that baby is on track to graduate because of the deposit Ms. Shorter made to give up her time. They have to have that time. Ms. Shorter said, 'I'm not looking for anything. I just want to be a blessing to this child.' That's what she wanted to do."
As an added bonus for Shorter, a 1971 Dollarway graduate who happens to be another semifinalist's father reached out to meet her before the ceremony began.
"It's a wonderful achievement," said Steve Long, Stephanie Long's father. "As a 41-year educator myself, I recognize the challenges and the rewards that go with teaching. I think the recognition is great. I wish both of them [Stephanie Long and Shorter] well, but I hope my daughter gets the ultimate recognition and award with that."
Steve Long taught chemistry in Alvin, Texas, and in Bentonville and Rogers schools before retiring six years ago.
Shorter graduated from Dollarway in 1979 but did not go into education right away.
She enrolled at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, with hopes of becoming an engineer, and later transferred to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, planning to make a two-year transition into the field.
"But I decided I was going to major in mathematics with a minor in computer science," Shorter recalled. "I ended up working for Southwestern Bell, AT&T, home businesses, SBC Communications and all of that for 17½ years."
Shorter had a disabled child and brought him to Pine Bluff to be surrounded by family. The son, Kevin Harrison, is now 36.
Shorter struggled to find a job in Pine Bluff, often being told she was overqualified, so she became a long-term substitute teacher in her home Dollarway district, mostly at the former Townsend Park Elementary.
Then, an idea dawned on Shorter.
"I said, 'You know what?' I'm just going to teach," she said.
She enrolled in the math program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and has since taken courses in education leadership.
FINALLY A TEACHER
Shorter was living out her grandmother's prediction early on in her work life, even if she didn't realize it.
"Even when I thought I wasn't going to be teaching, I was teaching," Shorter recollected. "When I was at Southwestern Bell, I actually became a certified instructor with their Center for Learning. I had to train employees. I always helped my family and friend's kids with their assignments if they were stuck, just helping anyone."
Shorter's teaching isn't just limited to academics. She's also taught Sunday school and has been a Vacation Bible School director at Kings Highway Baptist Church, just down the street from Dollarway High on Fluker Avenue. (She was careful to mention Anthony J. Howard is the pastor.)
"I just love it now, because my transition into becoming a teacher was, before that, I didn't have any patience with anyone. But after I had my son, I had to find a way to communicate with him and get across him because everybody gets that Hooked on Phonics thing, and that was it, but he could never remember to sing the letters of the alphabet. He always wanted to go to the next one, but I said, you've got to do this, this, this, and you have to remember to do this part."
But when things weren't working out for Kevin, Shorter found methods that did.
"I have more patience now," she said. "My son taught me how to have patience. He taught me how to look at the assets everyone has and what they already know to help get them to where you need them to be. We don't always get there at the same time, but eventually we get better and grow more and more with what we know."
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, left, and state Education Commissioner Johnny Key, right, pose with Dollarway High School math teacher Elouise Shorter after she is named semifinalist for 2023 Arkansas Teacher of the Year on Thursday at the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Dollarway High School math teacher Elouise Shorter, left, receives a medal as state semifinalist for 2023 Arkansas Teacher of the Year from state assistant commissioner Karli Saracini on Thursday at the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Dollarway High School math teacher Elouise Shorter displays her medal for being named semifinalist for 2023 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)