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Teacher makes history fun for students

Shannon Shelton is May's 9Teacher Who Care winner.
9Teachers Who Care May winner

PARKER - She has an amazing amount of energy each and every day for her students and an immeasurable amount of passion for teaching them about the red, white and blue.

Cimarron Middle School Social Studies teacher, Ms. Shelton, is praised by many at the school for not only making history fun but also making it a point to teach her kids about those who have served this country - past, present and future.

Shannon Shelton is May's 9Teacher Who Care winner.

When you enter her classroom, there's no shortage of patriotism. American flags drape her classroom.

"My brother was a presidential guard at Camp David. My father served in Vietnam. My grandfather and his three brothers were in World War II," Shelton said.

Shelton's family deemed her "The Keeper of the Tales" and wanted her to make sure students know about who our heroes really are.

"Every year for the past five years, she's done an annual Veterans' Day ceremony, which I love personally because my dad is in the military. I love how she makes sure everybody feels loved," eighth grade student Kayla Jakuboski said.

At 2013's ceremony, more than 150 veterans were honored. Cimarron campus security guard and Vietnam Veteran Randy Myers was one of them.

"Every Veterans' Day, she has the children write letters to veterans, and then they post them along the walls. Every wall is covered. They're nice. They make you cry, make you feel good and make you proud to be a veteran," Myers said.

"Everything I do is trying to make that connection," Shelton said.

She has a deep passion for teaching and immense amount of love for her students.

"I don't really look at her as a teacher. I look at her as my school mom because she's always looking after all the kids," eighth grade student Tanner O'Tremba said.

"Once you're one of my kids, you'll always be one of my kids," Shelton said.

Shelton makes learning about our ancestors and our country, interactive and engaging and will forever be the Cimarron keeper of the tales.

"The gift that I can give them is to love learning and go out and be wonderful people," Shelton said.

9NEWS' 9Teachers Who Care series will take a summer break and be back for the fall semester.

(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

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