Mary Shields Retires After Serving Harrison County Schools, Including 13 Years as Guidance Counselor at Bridgeport Middle
By Julie Perine on August 14, 2019
Mary Shields recently retired after serving 13 years as guidance counselor at Bridgeport Middle School. It was a very rewarding part of her life and a chapter she didn’t begin until after teaching several years on the elementary level – and raising her own children.
“I taught at probably four or five different schools on the elementary level and also had five children,” she said. “I took close to 15 years off, taught a little bit, raised babies and went back to teaching.”
It was at age 50 that Shields decided to obtain her master’s in guidance counseling. Through a weekend cohort program at WVU, she obtained the degree in just three years.
“I just decided to do what I had always wanted to do,” she said. “And it worked out well. I was really privileged to be the guidance counselor at Bridgeport Middle School … It started out to be a gift to me and turned out – I think – to be a gift for others.”
Her passion for serving as a counselor was inspired by her grandmother.
“My mother passed away when I was a young girl, just 14 years old,” Shields said. “There were nine young kids and my grandmother came to live with us before my father remarried. I learned the value of listening – which, to me – is such a huge component to counseling.”
Sitting across the desk from middle school-age children and helping them find a solution to their problems was the key.
“Allowing them to talk out loud and letting those thoughts help them take steps in the right direction to figure it out - how they can better handle what happened to them, not make it go away – is so rewarding," she said. "The key must lie within them. Otherwise, they think I have ownership of the solution. When someone talks to kids – whether it’s a mother, grandmother or counselor - and helps them find a solution, it’s really something they take ownership of. It is theirs.”
Shields said she had to walk through those early years with her grandmother to truly understand all of that.
She feels fortunate to have worked with children on the middle school level.
“They are so transparent. They just put it out there,” she said. “
Nearly 68 years of age now, she decided it was time to pass on the torch.
“I am of a different generation. I think wisdom is huge. I honestly do. You cannot counsel without patience and compassion, but these kids come in and they are electric. They are wired differently,” she said. “…I felt like it was time that someone perhaps younger and familiar with social media could more closely identify with them.”
Shields said she has been blessed with a wonderful husband, John, and wonderful life. The couple has five grown married children, 14 grandchildren and another on the way.
“It keeps us very active and energized – to say the least,” she said. “Our lives are so full. I want to fill it up with less fast pace and maybe more for them.”
Their children are Mary Helen Hess, Johnny Shields, Theresa Sexstone, Gina Vmravek and Anthony Shields.
Editor's Note: Top/cover photo is courtesy of Harrison County Schools.
