“I was 2 years old when my parents first put me on skates,” said Mrs. Shannon Holmes, NDA’s newest English teacher. She was also a professional figure skating coach for 10 years in Canada.

“My husband’s job brought us to Green Bay 26 years ago,” Holmes said. She also has three daughters, but only one of them was born in Canada.

Holmes went to UWGB and graduated with a degree in English literature. “I had a great experience at UWGB,” she said. “I chose English because reading and writing have always been things that I have a deep love and appreciation for.”

“Smaller class sizes worked better for me,” Holmes admitted. Originally, she had gone to the University of Guelph in Canada.

“I had the intention of applying to veterinary school,” Holmes said, but she only completed part of that degree.

Holmes and her sister grew up figure skating together. Her parents were always on the ice as well.

After moving to Green Bay from Canada, she stepped back from skating but knew she had to get back at it. “I found Cornerstone and got involved again,” she explained.

Holmes started teaching hockey players to “make them faster, more powerful and better balanced.”

“I find working with teenagers to be the most rewarding,” she said. She tends to keep in touch with them after they are done with their sport. The picture linked with this story is Holmes and Michael Karow, a former Triton hockey player now playing professionally.

Holmes said the bonds she forms with her students run deep: “I am proud of each and every one of them.”

This year, Holmes looks forward to “getting to know new people and being a part of the school in general.”

Holmes, who lives in Green Bay, taught at Manitowoc Lincoln last year.

She hopes to work with more of the NDA hockey players and confesses that “the day I can’t strap on skates and glide across the ice will be a very sad one indeed,”