After over a year and a half of constant changes and an unexpected school year, CHS has gained and lost many teachers and staff members ever since the start of the pandemic. This is particularly true for the CHS Talon, the newspaper has acquired a new advisor! Her name is Shannon McIntyre. 

McIntyre was raised in Salem, Oregon. She received her bachelor’s degree in business and her masters degree in teaching, both from Pacific University. When she’s not in the classroom, she enjoys all things outdoor activities including, but not limited to, camping and fishing. McIntyre mentions that she is also a heavily devoted cat mom, one named Annabelle and the other named Tanzanite (yes, like the stone). 

In addition, she is also a singer, “I sing and I play guitar and I play the piano, so I’ve been in bands before…. I want to recoup my musical interests. But I’ve done a lot of covers of alternative-type stuff.”

When McIntyre was first trying to figure out what career she wanted to get into, she didn’t think that she would get into teaching at first. At first she was interested in becoming a biology major, she later on transitioned to be a music major, but once she realized that it wouldn’t necessarily be the most practical, she found that business was the right fit for her.

Once she settled for a career path, McIntyre quickly realized that she might not exactly like the fast-paced work environment that came with working in the business industry. As a result, she began the search for something that she felt was most rewarding. After consulting with multiple people, including her father (who happens to be a teacher as well), she soon realized that a career in education may be the right fit for her. 

“I volunteered for all grades, all different levels, different schools in Beaverton [Oregon] and I ultimately decided that high school would be for me,” said McIntyre. 

This might come as a shock to many, but McIntyre has been teaching for about 11 years, across several different school districts. 

McIntyre said, “I’ve taught yearbook before and journalism and then I’ve taught business classes, such as, marketing, accounting, personal finance, and… computer applications.” 

Journalism and Yearbook have been the classes that evidently drew McIntyre into deciding to teach at CHS. Specifically because she is able to help students become more creative, helping create a product that reflects the school, and allowing students to feel like they are part of a community of fellow students that is working as a team. 

Aside from being able to teach creative classes, McIntyre really enjoyed the community and staff that welcomed her from the moment she contacted the school about potentially being a teacher here. She mentioned that everybody has been super friendly, that she feels like a part of the team, and that she feels she made the right decision in coming to CHS. 

Last year, McIntyre was set to teach internationally, but because of the pandemic she wasn’t able to pursue this career opportunity. 

“I was offered [teaching jobs] in Germany and Thailand, so I was going to be teaching I.B. business and economics curriculum,” said McIntyre. “Unfortunately, because of the pandemic… then everything fell apart because they are funded by their students and their families…. And they couldn’t afford to have me come on because they were losing a bunch of students because of COVID [19].”

Even though there have been many setbacks in terms of being able to teach internationally, McIntyre hopes to be able to do that in the future, but for right now she is very excited to be a teacher at CHS.

Being brand new to the school, McIntyre has many ideas on ways she can improve the classes she teaches. She hopes to create programs of study for her elective classes that double as college credits and to be able to build on the Advanced Journalism class, given that the number of students is so low. She also hopes to get involved in business/marketing classes in the future.  For those who have yet to meet McIntyre, she said that in her classes you should expect to find a friendly, welcoming environment, that is also structured in a way that can hopefully inspire students to pursue career paths that are related to her elective classes

It took us a long time to get here, but the new school year is finally upon us. This new chapter will inevitably come with it’s many challenges and uncertainties, nonetheless we welcome Ms. McIntyre to the CHS family with open arms, and are beyond excited to see the wonderful contributions she makes in both the school and the world around her.