Shelby Gardner

I had the opportunity to attend Charlton Heston Academy and graduate in 2018. It’s a rather long adventure as to how I ended up in St. Helen, Michigan walking across that stage on June 2nd, 2018. I was born and raised in Neenah, Wisconsin. I moved to Lakeland, Florida my junior year of high school to be with my Dad, and then moved to Michigan for my senior year of high school to be with my dad’s family in St. Helen.

I chose to attend Charlton Heston Academy because my younger cousins did at the time, and I’m glad. I made a family at CHA that included both other students and faculty members. I had the opportunity to help create a theater program, and I met many astounding staff members. I was able to contribute to the 2017-2018 Historium, and I worked on a small portion of the yearbook. The most rewarding experience of being a student at CHA was tutoring other students who needed the help so they could graduate on time. I graduated from Charlton Heston Academy as 4th in class and was honored to be one of the speakers at graduation. After graduating, I became an employee at the school for the summer before college and I worked mostly with kindergarteners and I tutored middle school math.

Now I attend and live at Saginaw Valley State University, with the help of a scholarship from Charlton Heston Academy’s PTO. I am pursuing a major in Professional and Technical Writing and a minor in Business and will graduate in 2022. I am currently supporting myself with a job and I’m managing a 4.0 in college. I am extremely grateful for my time at Charlton Heston Academy because I learned many important life skills at CHA, and I will have friends that will last a lifetime. I will be able to pursue my dreams of being an editor and working with information design.

Thank you, Charlton Heston Academy.