Shannon comes to Excel as an Academic Coach after spending 13 years as an award-winning high school (grades 9-12) English teacher of mostly honors and AP-English classes. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University in 2011 with a double major in Secondary Education and English, she spent one year as a teacher and Student Council advisor at a high school in northwestern Indiana before moving to Minneapolis, where she spent the last 12 years teaching in the west metro area. During her teaching tenure, Shannon was nominated by the University of Chicago for being an Outstanding Educator; she also was a 2024 Minnesota Teacher of the Year nominee. Her love for education is partly motivated by her love for positively impacting the next generations but also for her love for making all students capable and mindful critical thinkers, readers, writers, and speakers. She believes that teaching students with compassion while holding them to high standards will guide the next generations of students to be successful, empathetic beings.

Shannon lives in Saint Louis Park with her husband, Tyler (a Social Studies teacher, track coach, and mock trial coach), and her children, Owen and Tatum. In their free time, Shannon and Tyler love to explore the eclectic and vast food scene that Minneapolis and St. Paul have to offer. In the last couple years alone, they have tried over 100 restaurants! Shannon and her family are avid sports fans as well, whether that is shooting hoops in the driveway, watching the Olympics, or going to various sporting events. And since she and her husband both grew up in Wisconsin, they are huge Packers fans. Shannon tries to go to a Packer game every year because she has never seen the Packers lose in person (sorry, Vikings fans!). Shannon also grew up singing and playing piano. It even led her to try out for American Idol in 2008 where she made it past the first round!