Precious Shaver's Story

 Forks In the Road

“A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.”

—Helen Keller

Building relationships with students is an ongoing and essential part of the teaching process. Creating relationships among staff is also important, especially in building a strong team. My recent interview with Precious Shavers for Harper Unsung Hero was a reminder of this process. We all get to know each other on a professional level as we work alongside each other day after day and year after year. With the time spent together, it is inevitable that personal connections are developed as well. Conversations and experiences about family, childhood memories, and shared interests help to build trust in one another as we go about our jobs. Still, there are details about the lives of the individuals we work with that we are unaware of. It is my hope that these monthly stories help to foster the development of understanding each other and getting to know our co-workers while providing a dose of inspiration. For me personally, sitting down with a different individual each month through the interview process, having a conversation about their life experiences, and then writing their stories has allowed me to appreciate my work peers on a higher level, one story at a time. 

Precious was born prematurely. She talked about this and the impact this had on her life. “I was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1991, three months early, to Linda Johnson and Bryan Patterson. I grew up with kidney issues because they weren’t fully developed when I was born. I was on medication for a while to treat this, and was fortunate to grow out of it. There were also drugs in my system at birth. Later, as an adult, I was diagnosed with ADHD, something I feel that I dealt with as a child that was a byproduct of my birth history.”

 Precious was raised in a blended family. “I am the youngest of four siblings from my mom,” Precious said,  “with one brother, Toji, and two sisters, Loteah and Darqualla. I am the oldest of three siblings from my dad, with two brothers, both named Bryan. I also have three older foster sisters, Rameca, Kirstey, and Amber, and two foster brothers. Logan and Romello, who are younger than I am.”  Precious moved in with her grandma from her mom’s side after her mom lost custody when Precious was approximately a year old. Both her mom and dad would visit her, but it was very limited. “My mom and dad didn’t have much contact with me when I was growing up,” Precious explained. “They might pop in for a few days, but then they would leave again. Grandma adopted me and my siblings.”

Precious’ grandma passed away in 1999, which would start a pattern of many forks in the road for her. She reflected on this transition. “After my grandma passed away when I was eight years old, I moved in with my sister’s father. Dartanion and his wife, Kim. I lived with them and their children until I graduated from high school. I was a ward of the state after my grandma passed away, but Kim became my legal guardian.”

Precious has fond memories from her childhood, living on Wood Street with her grandma and later with Dartanion and Kim’s family. “After school each day, we always had chores to do, and then we could play,” Precious recalled. “ We would play outside until it was time to come inside for the evening. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood, and we all played together. We rode our bikes and scooters. I can remember playing kickball in the street.” 

Precious started kindergarten at Dudley Elementary while living with her grandma, and from there she attended Wilson Academy. She always liked school, but things were difficult initially at Wilson Academy. “The transition was scary, but my third-grade teacher, Ms. Ptacek, helped me with this,” Precious said. “In fourth grade, I started having behavior issues. I began therapy after this. This helped with my behavior at the time by helping me to be more vocal with identifying my emotions when I was upset, rather than lashing out physically.” 

Although she enjoyed school, Precious was bullied at times, which made learning hard. She discussed this. “I was short and chunky, and I was picked on because of this. The adults and teachers were supportive and made me feel that I belonged. I also really enjoyed art. When I was upset, I was allowed to go to the art room to draw and color. Art was therapeutic for me and still is today.” As much as Precious liked elementary school, the best was yet to come. “I attended Southwestern Middle School from sixth to eighth grade,” she said. “This was my favorite school experience by far. I participated in extracurricular activities, playing basketball and volleyball. I had a close core group of friends, and the teachers were really cool.”

Precious appreciated her core group of friends, but her siblings went to Battle Creek Central, and she wanted to find her own niche and go to another school district after middle school.  “I wanted to go to Harper Creek in high school, but I was not able to get in,” she explained. “I ended up going to Lakeview. It was hard leaving my friends from middle school, although I was still in contact with them. I did have one friend from Southwestern who came to Lakeview, and I was also able to make new friends. I also had to play catch-up academically my freshman year because the curriculum at Lakeview was a little more advanced than at Battle Creek Public.” Precious wasn’t involved in athletics in high school but participated in other extracurricular activities. She talked about this. “I was part of the Black History Month Program at Lakeview, and I was also a part of the Grief Group. My brother passed away at the age of twenty-five. The doctors think that he had a blood clot, which caused him to have a heart attack. It was hard for me to lose him. The Grief Group helped. It was kids my age going through the same things that I was going through, and I appreciated this outlet.”

Precious graduated from Lakeview High School in 2009 and came to another major fork in the road. “After finishing high school, I had a falling out with Kim and Dartanion,” Precious explained.  “I decided to go to Illinois to try to get to know my birth dad, who lived there. I was interested in journalism as a career, so I enrolled at Prairie State College in Illinois to begin the process of getting a journalism degree. The attempt to reconnect with my dad didn’t work out. After a semester and a half at Prairie State, I dropped out.” Precious packed her bags and headed south. She talked about this next transition in her life. “While in Illinois, I was introduced to some of my cousins. We decided to leave Illinois and move to Georgia. I worked at a seafood restaurant while in Georgia.”

A year after moving to Georgia, Precious came back home for a wedding. “My sister was getting married in Battle Creek, so I came back for the wedding and decided to stay,” Precious said. “I started working at Burger King, becoming an assistant manager there for three years.” Precious was back home and living independently as an adult, but she couldn’t decide for sure what she wanted to do. She reflected on her next transition. “I left Burger King and was hired at TRMI, working there for four years from 2016 to 2020. During this time, I also decided to try college again and enrolled at KCC. Being a student again was very difficult, and I dropped out after half a semester. I decided to seek help with the difficulties I was having with school and was diagnosed with ADHD.”

Circumstances had Precious shifting gears again, after a lengthy period of time of working at TRMI. “TRMI was shut down during the pandemic, and I never went back,” Precious recalled. “Then I started working for Applied Behavior and Autism Services in Battle Creek, doing in-home Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. My best friend had a baby who was autistic. This sparked my interest in working with autistic kids. Eventually, I started doing therapy for a client at Lens Learning Center in Battle Creek. After a short time, the director of Lens Learning Center offered me a job there.” Precious continued her job doing ABA therapy while also working for Lens Learning Center. She left Lens Learning Center in 2022, taking a pay raise to work for Hungry Howie's. She still enjoyed her job doing ABA therapy and continued with this as well. 

Although Precious went from one job to another, she enjoyed working with autistic students. Her interest in working with children would eventually bring her to Harper Creek. “In 2023, I started working as a before-and-after-school daycare provider and as a lunch aid for Wattles Park,” Precious said.  “In December of that year, I was hired as a one-on-one aide for Wattles and quit working as a lunch aide to be able to do this job full-time. I continued doing before and after school day care.”  Like many of her co-worker peers, Precious signed on to be a part of the Grow Your Own Grant, a program through Western Michigan University, providing a free opportunity for many of our paraprofessionals to become certified teachers. “ I would like to be a middle school social studies or English teacher when I finish my program through WMU,” Precious explained.  “I am due to graduate in May 2027.”

Precious has had a multitude of experiences not only as a child but also in the years since she graduated from high school, living, going to school, and working in Illinois, and then moving to and working in Georgia before coming back home. Since her return to Battle Creek, she has worked in a factory setting and in the fast food industry. It seems she has finally settled into a lifelong career as an educator. She reflected on being a part of the Harper Creek family. “I feel like I have found my niche working with kids. I really like the community here at Wattles Park and Harper Creek. Working here has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. My only regret is that I didn’t come here sooner. Mr. Swan has let me help with crowd control at the football games. I enjoy doing this. I also enjoy doing morning announcements when Mr. Swan is unavailable.” 

The road has been long for Precious to be where she is now. With all that she went through as a child and a young adult, she has struggled with mental health issues. “Although I wasn’t diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and Trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder) in 2014, I know that I have struggled with mental illness much of my life. I take medications to treat these disorders and see a therapist in spurts. I realize that keeping things bottled up is not helpful in the long run. I hate asking for help, but I am getting better at this. Asking for help makes me feel like a burden, which stems from my childhood and never feeling like I had a place to fit in.”

Precious’ past has taken her in many different directions. These experiences have all made her who she is. Her past has shaped her life, but she realizes the importance of looking beyond this.  Her philosophy of life is not to spend time looking in the rearview mirror. Her words of advice for others are as follows. “Don’t let your past define your future.”

Precious has found her calling as an educator, but still spends her free time pursuing her original dream as a writer. “I have written a book series, composed of three books. I have also written two other books, not a part of a series, and am currently writing another one.” Precious also enjoys writing poetry. 

Precious’ philosophy on life is a set of words to reflect on.  There are not many among us whose lives have followed a straight path without any forks to navigate. It is always wise to learn from the past and refreshing to celebrate previous successes and victories. Planning for and preparing for the future is also advisable. More importantly than looking behind and getting caught up in what is to come is seizing the moment and making the best of the present, one day at a time.