Alumni Profile: Shanna Mall '97 B.A. English, '98 MAT

"It's amazing to see what a group of people can get done," says Shanna Mall, principal and cofounder of Winterberry Charter School. The Winterberry group may have been able to accomplish so much because Shanna is a passionate and fiercely determined leader.

It all started when Shanna was invited to a book club by her best friend. Eventually, the members got in a discussion about charter schools and the possibility of creating a school inspired by Waldorf methods. Many of their children attended Anchorage's Aurora Waldorf School, where the teachers and parents work out of Steiner's philosophy. In her visits there, Shanna found it to be a particularly peaceful environment. The book club group decided to take on the challenge of starting their own charter school.

"Starting a school is difficult, even under the best of circumstances," says Shanna. She and the founding teachers went to training to learn how to effectively implement Waldorf methods within the public sector. The aim of Waldorf schooling is to educate the whole child, "head, heart and hands." The curriculum is based on presenting and expanding academic subjects that are developmentally appropriate for children. "We strive to do this in a meaningful way using story, art, music and practical activities to foster learning that will then live within the children. Teachers also focus on nurturing relationships with students and families as they will continue on a multi-year journey together."

Winterberry's founders received an amazing gift from another charter school in California that generously offered to share its 200-page charter so the Winterberry group was able to save a lot of time as they tweaked it to meet their own needs, completing the important task in under a year; developing a charter usually takes several years.

In December 2004, Winterberry received approval from the Anchorage School District and then from the State. Her book club friends became the school board.

However, it wasn't a completely smooth process to open the new arts-integrated, K-8 public school. They got into their location late so had to start classes off site. It was a big, confusing mess because the teachers were all new and didn't know the students yet. Enrollment dropped below the minimum required by the State and they lost half of their budget. The group had to knuckle down and tighten the purse strings, and even though the school started with a deficit, it hasn't had one since then.

Shanna says, "We sat down and talked to figure out what else we all could do. We just covered what had to be done and made it happen."

Where does Shanna's fierce determination come from? She thinks a large part of who she developed into as a person started when she was a young girl who spent all her time playing 'school' with her younger sister and playing outside where her imagination was allowed to flourish. Her father was instrumental in shaping her work ethic and will, while her mother fostered and inspired in her deep, rich and steadfast faith. She says this time was instrumental in her developing into who she is as a person and has served her well.

Her passion to make a difference also has roots from when another notable characteristic of Shanna's bloomed: her desire to serve others. Shanna recalls her best friend from fifth grade was a girl struggling to keep her head above water in the sea of a large family and a public education system unable to prevent such kids from falling through the cracks. The result was Shanna holding herself back from the more advanced classes to keep close to and help the struggling girl in her general education classes.

In a high school counseling session, Shanna was told there was no way she could become the architect she dreamed of becoming simply because she had not taken the advanced mathematics necessary. Shanna felt deflated and angry with the educational system.  She recalls this incident as instrumental in her wanting to become a teacher herself.

Interested in art, Shanna completed an art program at a school in the Lower 48, but found the work she was trained to do didn't quite fit into what she had in mind. So she returned to Anchorage and got a summer job on the North Slope that turned into a full-time position. She enjoyed the regular schedule of the work, but wondered, "How am I going to change the world doing this?" She still felt the desire to make a positive change in the world.

So, she decided to come to UAA because her sister was a student here and liked it. Shanna originally hoped to become an art teacher, but at that time there was little rotation with art teachers in the local schools and her sister encouraged her to consider other subjects she might want to teach.

Shanna says that she found inspiration in UAA's English department. "All of the professors are amazing."

One in particular inspired the sentiment that she could do anything she set her mind to. Shanna went from having really no experience writing to looking forward to assignments of 14-page papers on topics like Hamlet. This aroused memories of her earlier education and the fact that only two teachers before college had really touched her in a similarly inspiring way: her fifth grade teacher and her 12th grade English teacher. This realization stoked her passion for the conviction that it is simply not acceptable to have only two teachers throughout all those years who had that kind of impact.

As she went through her student teaching and beginning positions, Shanna again found that the educational system was just not set up to give all the necessary tools to students to ensure their success, especially students with special needs or already considered at-risk. She knew she wanted to be a different kind of educator. And that's when she got invited to the book club.

Shanna says, "We only have a limited amount of time each year to reach each child and make a difference." Her ardent desire to make a difference in the world can be seen in how she stands on the steps of the school each morning to greet the students, shaking each little hand.

"It's important to me to serve others, to offer love and care where I can; to leave the world a better place than when I entered."