In the Family

BY SANDRA SANTANA

Home Team: The Shields Family

It is not every day that you get to call your classroom—or your job— home. For the Shields, Emma Willard School is more than a place to work and learn. It has become an extension of their family.

Before Ashley, Emma, Audrey, and Chloe (the family dog), there was Isabell and James. In 1992, James “Jim” Shields was a budding college basketball player with dreams of a professional contract. When opportunity moved him from the US to Osnabrück, Germany, there was no hesitation to earn his spot.

He didn’t realize that the real prize awaited him in the stands. “I saw Isabell in the crowd—this amazingly beautiful woman,” Jim recalls while his daughters giggle in the background, “and was very much looking forward to getting to know her.” For the next 16 years, Jim and Isabell navigated life and professional basketball together as their own team.

Germany was a meaningful place where they found love, achieved their dreams, and started their family. But in 2008, a new opportunity with General Electric knocked at Jim’s door, and the Shields embarked on their next journey, this time with three young children in tow.

The family moved to South Carolina, then Clifton Park, New York. By this time, the three girls were enrolled in school and engaged in the local basketball circuit. Traveling almost every weekend for tournaments, team Shields often passed Emma Willard School. “We would always drive by this beautiful campus and ask, ‘What is this?’” Isabell recalls. In a few years, they would call that beautiful campus home.

Isabell spent the girls’ early childhood at home, but as they got older, she decided to revisit the classroom and pursued her master of arts in teaching from Union Graduate College. A colleague of Jim’ s at GE mentioned his wife was an instructor at Emma Willard. “She would always talk about how awesome Emma is as a place to work and teach. We thought about what it would be like if I could apply and see what happens. It sounded like the perfect place—we had three girls and this is all about girls’ education.”

“I was very excited to go to a new school,” Ashley ’20 shared. “I remember asking my mom to seriously apply to the job and thinking she could do it. She said, ‘I don’t know, there’s someone else applying with more experience,’ and I was like, ‘No, mom. You’re going to get the job.’”

Ashley was right. Isabell became a history instructor at Emma in 2015. The following fall, Ashley joined her mom and the Class of 2020 on Mount Ida, while Emma and Audrey studied nearby at Susan Odell Taylor School. The family embraced Isabell’s new path and left Clifton Park for a community that made them feel welcome and reflected the international life they loved.

Over the last six years, Ashley, Emma ’22, and Audrey ’24 have taken on Emma Willard together. With two class years separating each, they overlapped in unique ways. Ashley, a freshman at the University of Albany, recalls the first year Emma joined her on campus. “I knew she wouldn’t struggle, but I tried to keep my distance. All of my friends knew she was my sister, so anytime anything happened, my friends would deliver the news.”

Audrey, the youngest, never had a chance to study alongside Ashley, but wished she could have. “I text her throughout the day to ask what she’s doing because in those moments, I really wish she was here.” Audrey continues, “But it’s nice feeling comfortable at school knowing I have Emma there.”

“I feel like I’m the most extroverted out of the three of us,” Emma calls. “I never had to be brought out of my shell, but it’s nice to have an older sister who knows you, knows the environment, the community, where to go. For me, it was really great having that support.”

Outside of having one another, there is comfort knowing their mother is only a few doors away. “I had my mom as a teacher freshman year and this year,” Audrey smiles. “She’s been my only history teacher at Emma. I don’t really feel like she’s my mom. It’s like these two separate worlds where I look at her as my teacher, and it’s really cool.”

The Shields family celebrating Emma reaching 1,000 career points this winter! (L-R) Isabel, Audrey, Emma, Ashley, and Jim.

In her sophomore year, Emma also found herself in Isabell’s classroom. “I really wanted to take her Middle Eastern course, and I had the same experience as Audrey. In the classroom, my mom is a teacher. I had a little while where I didn’t know if I should raise my hand and call her Mom or Ms. Shields,” she smirks, “so I went with Mom.” She continues, “She’s a great person to go to if you need support or help. Having her at school is just like having my sisters there. I can always go to her office and have lunch with her and talk. I really love having her there.”

The warmth of the Shields family is abundant and, by nature, they welcome others in. Isabell, from a family of seven, is no stranger to a boisterous happy home, so when it comes to creating that space for others, the Shields embrace the comforting chaos. “Our house pre-pandemic was always open to kids. Whether it was friends or Black and Latinx Student Union, we always had people coming over.” In many ways, their family home has become an extension of campus where guests enjoy family around them.

From their early beginnings in Osnabrück to present day, the Shields have appreciated each experience life has offered, and Emma Willard School is no different. “The people I have met here are some of the best people I have ever met, whether that’s students or teachers,” Emma shares. “It just feels like a part of me. I’m very thankful to have had so much of my life be part of Emma. It’s like a family.”

“To be able to live all of these experiences through Emma Willard is like winning the golden ticket,” Ashley echoed. “Not only was it instrumental in all of our development as people trying to get through the world, the support system Emma Willard offers the community—the investment they make in you—provides you with the right equipment to face the world. That means everything. I am forever grateful for that opportunity.”

For Audrey, Emma Willard is a place that has allowed her to advance herself in the classroom and on the basketball court. “[Basketball] is my passion and this place has really allowed me to do what I love. I also get to meet people from all over the world, and that’ s crazy! It’s such a unique experience—I don’t know anyone else who has this. It’s life-changing.”

“To have such well-rounded, happy, ready-for-theworld children and hear them say that school has shaped them as human beings is everything,” beams Isabell. “Having an opportunity to teach in an environment where I can be creative has been really wonderful, and I hope it continues to stay that way.” Isabell continues, “I don’t have family in the United States, but I have such good friends now because of this community. They are family.”

Jim shares a similar sentiment: “There’s so much that we’re thankful for and blessed with, being part of this community. Certainly, how much our kids have grown, the leadership they display, the passions they have found. It’s just an incredible opportunity. The fact that they have space in school to take up the leadership positions they want is impressive.”