A glass half full: Gratiot-Isabella teacher approaches life with cheer and optimism

Shari Nevins has a simple outlook on life.

“Nobody likes a downer and I don’t want to be a downer,” says Nevins, a Fulton Elementary School first-grade teacher who has been in the district for 27 years. “I want to be enthusiastic and cheerful, so that’s who I am.

“I like to keep a smile on my face, and if I can share a smile I think that goes a long way.”

In a profession that forces one to become a morning person, Nevins has never needed any prodding. Her father was a dairy farmer in Gratiot County and would often wake at 3 a.m. to milk the cows.

As a teenager, Nevins would rise around 7:30 a.m. during summer vacation — a time of the year when many children her age wouldn’t roll out of bed until much later.

“When I would wake up at 7:30 a.m. and walk past my dad at the kitchen table, he would ask me why I waited so long to get up and tell me I was missing the best part of the day,” Nevins recalls. “It definitely stuck with me.”

Nevins prefers to be positive and enthusiastic.

“I always look for the good in things,” she says. “I try to look at the glass as half full. I like to think that no matter what I’m going through, there is probably somebody going through something way worse than I am.”

Much of her hopefulness and optimism comes from her strong faith.

“Prayer is definitely a big part of my optimism,” Nevins says. “When I am discouraged and going through rough patches in my life, I dig down deep in prayer and ask for God to get me through the day and to be a positive influence on others.”

Her students are a source of perspective and make her a better person, she says.

“I can come into teach with maybe a sour attitude but these students don’t have those worries or cares, and they are just looking to me to guide them and lead them,” she explains. “Their enthusiasm drives mine. I would say our energy feeds each other.”

Nevins is known around Fulton Elementary for singing silly songs in her class to make learning fun and enjoyable. Her unique teaching habits have not gone unnoticed by her students.

“I’ve had students come back as teenagers and tell me that they were traveling some place and they started singing one of my silly songs,” she said. “It’s pretty neat that something like that sticks with a first-grader and they feel compelled to tell me. I’ve always felt music is a great way to boost your energy and kind of lighten your mood as well.”

Nevins makes it a point to look people in the eye when greeting or welcoming them. She believes it is important to say “good morning” and “try to spread a little sunshine and positive light wherever I go.”

Outside of school, she enjoys spending time with her family, which includes her husband, Scott, sons Ryan and Cody and their wives, and her grandson, Cooper. She is an avid outdoorswoman who loves to go camping in the Upper Peninsula.

Nevins jokes that her chipper morning attitude was at times rebuked by her sons when they were teenagers, but is now fully embraced.

“I always tried to be enthusiastic for them in the morning, and as they got older my oldest son Ryan would tell me, ‘Mom, I just need a half hour of ESPN time,’ so I appreciated that he was considerate,” she says. “My youngest had a horrible attitude in the morning, but now he is so much better to get along with in the morning.

“We laugh about it now, but I definitely think I rubbed off on him a little bit.”