SHEREEN S., CHOOSING THE PATH

"In SEI, I realized that I could choose my own path..." - Shereen Sherman, c/o 2002

As always, when Shereen Sherman spoke in front of the school board this spring, she was prepared. As Student Body President of Jefferson High School, she felt it was her obligation to help the board understand the problems that other students were afraid to talk about.

Shereen drew upon her first days as a tutor at SEI, when she realized that some new students could recite the SEI Standards, but couldn’t read them. She told the board that many of her peers were preoccupied when they came to school, “If home is your foundation, and it’s not a stable place, then academics don’t apply because you’re only thinking about survival.”

Thanks to a strong family and the early support of SEI, Shereen is a Jefferson High School alumni, who excelled in the academic enrichment of SEI’s after-school programs, skipped fifth grade to eventually become Valedictorian at Jefferson and earned a full scholarship to George Fox University. SEI constantly encouraged her to reach her highest potiential, “I realized that I could choose my own path. I never wanted to settle for less.”

Shereen went on to receive her masters from Case Western Reserve University, and has worked in the field serving children and families as a child and family therapist.  She has been married for 3 years and is presently a professor of Social Work at George Fox University.