By Emma Persson
The Source
Stoney Creek HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Personality Profile
Bullets and rocks were flying at him.
“It was mayhem,” Shaner said. “It was chaos. I can’t even explain to you how crazy that was.”
Still, Shaner did not regret beginning his career as Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.
“It was challenging,” Shaner said, “[but] it was inspiring.”
Today he is in charge of all public schools in our district. That includes work-ing with 1,400 people and a multi-million dollar budget, but it was his time in the military that taught him leadership.
Always Sure Shaner had an active outdoor life growing up in Michigan, and in one word would describe himself as tenacious.
“This is going to be really cliché, but I really just always wanted to be a Marine and I wanted to be a pilot,” Shaner said. “That’s really what I wanted to do, be an F4 pilot.”
He was inspired by the old “Phantom” fighter jets at Selfridge Air Force base, located 23 miles away from our school.
“I used to go out to watch them fly, see them on the tarmac,” Shaner said, smiling.
However, he got glasses in the eighth grade, and a requirement for pilots is 20/20 vision. Shaner kept on dreaming, and got commissioned for the Marines right out of college. Bullets in Somalia
Shaner’s unit was the first to land in Somalia during the civil war raging in 1992, sent as humanitarian aid for the famine.
“Then, when things began to change in the city, we took civic action patrols,” Shaner said. “We took food or supplies into an area in the city to draw the Somalies out of their homes, and recon guys would go through the houses and take their guns away.”
He spent the better part of three months there while the danger escalated, leaving before the infamous conflict known as Black Hawk Down ended U.S. involvement. Shaner recalls how the situation escalated.
“It was scary at times, dan-gerous at other times,” Shaner said.
Despite the danger, he said, the camaraderie and commitment was exceptional, and the experience aided him throughout his future career.
Back to Michigan
Shaner returned to Michigan, which did not surprise one of his comrades.
“’You can take the boy out of Michigan, but you can’t take the Michigan out of the boy,’” his comrade used to say, according to Shaner.
Shaner did fondly remember his home state, and keeps the family tradition of an active outdoor life.
In fact, he owns his own hunting property which is a certified tree farm consisting of white pines and hardwoods. It can be found by going up north and turn-ing left at the orange row of corn, according to Shaner.
“I take from the land, I give back to it, I try to teach my kids that,” Shaner said.
As a teacher, then a principal, and now a superintendent, he is able to reach thousands more kids than his own. “I could tell you what I feel the best about,” Shaner said, “and that’s every once in a while when I hear back from one of my students and I hear that they are doing great things.”
While he enjoys being able to have an impact on a larger scale as superintendent, Shaner’s time in the military remains an important part of his history.
“Leading the Marines is one of the great honors in my life,” Shaner said.