Shawn Halloran

• Position: teacher and coach
• Degrees & Alma Mater: teaching certification and bachelor online science communication
• School Activities: football and track
• Years at Caney Creek: 6 
• Years Teaching: 15

How would other people describe your high-school self?

An average student and the best athlete in the school, because I was voted the best athlete in school. So I would say that they would say something about athleticism. I’m just being upfront and honest.

Was there a career you wanted to pursue OR pursued before teaching? 

I was in college coaching before I came to high school. I did that for a number of years. If I could go back and to a certain point in time, I would probably try to stay at that particular level versus coming to high school. Because one I was a head coach and not an assistant coach, and you deal with older individuals instead of younger individuals.

Tell us about how you got into teaching. 

My background was in athletics, so I took a teaching certificate, course, studied, had to take two tests to pass, then I had to spend a year observing. Before I earned the actual certificate itself. I just chose a field that I had some background in.

What do you do outside of school for fun? Why? 

Enjoy going to the beach with my family, I enjoy spending time with my family, I like watching sporting events, all types, and I like barbecuing. I got a couple of different types of grills that I actually use. So I enjoy cooking dinners. I’m at that age where there’s only so many things that I’m able to do, and that happens to be one of them that I enjoy doing.

When people get to know you, what are they most surprised to learn about you?  

What is something you know a weird amount about that isn’t related to something you teach?  If you actually really get to know me, and you get that close to me, then you know that I would be very loyal. If I’m spending that much time with you, and I’ve got to know you and you know me, then there wouldn’t be anything I wouldn’t do for you. I don’t have a hidden talent, I guess cooking would be good at it not great at it. I would have to say football, I coach on defense. 

Tell us the story about what you are most proud of yourself for. 

When I was in college and I was a player, I earned the starting position, and we weren’t very good and we weren’t performing very well, and I got moved out of the stadium to the point where my mom was crying and they had to leave the stadium as well as fans because of things that were being said and the constant barrage of people getting mad because we weren’t winning, and I was taking the brunt of the blame, and I ultimately got benched, pulled taken out as the starter. I spent two weeks on the sideline and the two guys that took over for me both got hurt. They had nobody else to put in but me.

I got back in and we won eight games in a row, and I became the toast of the town to the point where, at Christmas time, I was lighting the Christmas tree on the Boston Commons with the mayor of the city of Boston. So during that entire time, I didn’t complain at anybody, I didn’t throw innuendos out there that it was other people’s fault all along or anything. I just kept my mouth shut and did my job and was part of a team. I think that’s what I was most proud of, and that’s what earned me the respect of the city and my teammates and my school. That was pretty stressful. Felt bad for my parents. I felt bad for myself for a short period of time. I had, you know, for about two weeks. I probably didn’t have a real good attitude, but I didn’t say anything out loud, you know, and just kept moving forward, practiced, got on a second opportunity, made the most of it.

Who is someone you are thankful for and why?

My parents, I would say well, provided me with discipline. They took care of me. You know, all through my younger years, through college, I was able to pay for college. They didn’t have to pay for college. So that was but they put in a lot of time practicing with me, getting me to practices, you know, taking me places and showing me what it is to be part of a family, that’s nice.

What advice would you give to your younger self? 

To have patience. Because it’s not always greener on the other side of the fence. Sometimes what you have is actually pretty good, and you can make it better if you really put your mind and effort into it, by looking over there saying, well, they’re doing something right. I want to go do that. And then you get over there and you find you find out it’s not any better than what you currently have.

What do you hope to be remembered for? 

I’m at a different stage in my life, and I’m starting. I’ve got my own family tree, and hopefully they know when I’m gone that I love them and I cared for them, and I enjoyed being around family.

What’s on your bucket list?  

To see the country. I think there’s a lot of really cool places that I haven’t seen yet that I would like to see. I think about it a lot every time I drive by a mobile home camper that you can feel like a bus camper. You know, where you can get in it and live in it and drive to a particular location and park it in the Grand Canyon, Colorado mountains, the West Coast, the northwest part of Northwest Canada. You know, there’s a lot of beautiful places that are here in this particular country. I don’t necessarily need to go to Europe or anything like that. I would like to see where my family came from, and that’s England. You know, in Scotland, I would like to see maybe that particular part of the world. But, yeah, see what this country has to offer that I haven’t seen yet. My aspirations would be. To be able to retire and do the things I want to do, and to have enough money to do that and that means having the ability to bring my family along with me.

Favorites

• Food: Italian food
• Music: ACDC 
• TV Show: “Lord of the Rings”
• Movie: “The Godfather” 
• Teacher: a business teacher at Boston College