Hidden Heroes: Part One

There are numerous things going on at one time within the walls of Alliance High School. Projects, attendance and announcements have to be run by somebody, and it is no easy task. The secretaries here at AHS do not get enough credit for all of the hard work that they put into their jobs.  

Shardel Nelson is a secretary at AHS. She has worked here for two years, and her favorite part of her job is, “getting to see the kids interact with other kids, but also we have a fun atmosphere within the staff.” Shardel does a lot of work in the office of AHS. When asked what some of her duties were she replied, “first of all, attendance, and then I’m the registrar, so taking new students coming in or transferring out. I’m in charge of getting the records or sending them to a different school, and also transcripts for kids going to college or for people who are out of school and trying to get a job. They need their verification that they actually graduated. I’m also in charge of helping with graduation and honors night.” Her job is the farthest thing from easy. Nelson says that her biggest challenge is, “ the time constraint of so many things happening at once, and the second thing is kids who are struggling.” 

Nelson is a very kind and caring person. I have cadet in the office with her since the beginning of the semester and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I asked her what her favorite color, food, sport and animal are, and she responded quite cheerfully saying, “My favorite food is crab legs, my favorite color is kind of a teal-ish blue, my favorite sports are wrestling and cheerleading; I’m not a huge animal fan, but we do have a dog.” Her husband’s name is Mark Nelson and she commented, “I’ve always been with the younger kids, so I did daycare for a year, like 27 years, and then I was at the elementary building, and now actually being able to have adult conversations with this age of kids, I enjoy that a lot.”

The secretaries here at AHS are very underrated workers who make the halls of AHS a kind and welcoming place. Thank you for all the time and work you put in to help us throughout our high school careers. Keep being awesome!