Shannon took over as the lead administrator at the school over the summer.

Prior to taking the job at MNW, Shannon spent 14 years teaching social studies at Pocahontas Area Community High School. Before that, he taught at Pomeroy-Palmer Community Schools for eight years before its consolidation with Pocahontas. At PAC, Shannon coached middle school track and wrestling, and high school football.

For the last decade, Shannon has had to commute half an hour each way to teach at PAC because he and his family already lived in Manson. Now, his commute is just a five-minute walk.

“I’ve lived here for the last nine years,” he said. “And so because of that, I already know many of the staff members, many of the community members and even some of the kids. That’s been kind of a nice way to be able to build a connection when taking the position.”

This is Shannon’s first principal assignment, despite earning his administrative degree from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, a few years ago. He said he was very happy where he was teaching at PAC, so he was waiting for the “right position” to open up.

That’s exactly what happened at MNW.

“I’ve always been interested in leadership,” Shannon said. “I have been so blessed to have worked around some fantastic teachers and administrators during my teaching career.”

He likes to be driven by the next challenge, the principal said, adding that he found the idea of taking things he’s learned while managing a classroom and implementing them into entire school buildings, taking what he’s learned from other teachers and administrators and using it for the betterment of the whole school.

What’s unique about Shannon’s hire at MNW is the deep connections he’s had with the school and with the city of Manson.

“Sometimes when people go into administration, they go in and they don’t know anybody,” he said. “Well the fact is I’ve lived here and I knew many of the teachers before I took this position.”

Having family nearby has also been a motivating factor in Shannon pursuing this role.

“There’s always been a drive for me to want to work with a school that my daughters would go to,” he said. “So this one here worked out well.”

Shannon has three daughters — Abby is a junior and Ella is a freshman at MNW High School, while Madeline is in kindergarten at MNW Elementary School in Barnum.

Just over a week into the school year, Shannon has enjoyed getting to see his teachers in action and he’s thinking of ways to improve and strengthen Manson Northwest Webster schools.

“One thing we’re trying to do right now is we would really like to get teachers into each other’s classrooms to be able to do some observations and to learn from each other,” he said.

The school will sometimes bring in education experts for training and professional development. “But to use the collective strength of the staff, we can use it to build off of each other, which is not just good for teaching, but it’s also good for predictive and positive culture amongst the staff members.”

Another main goal Shannon has for MNW is to “restructure what educational success means.”

“Many kids, they’re used to comparing themselves with their class rank,” he said. “But because of technology and because of the changing world economically, politically and demographically, they are literally competing against the world for those job opportunities.”

He said the school aims to put students into more “real-world” situations, to learn more about collaboration and problem-solving.

“Every chance to get to be able to improve yourself as a learner, and as a person, we have to absolutely maximize those opportunities,” Shannon said.