After nearly three decades in the classroom, Shelly Naquin still finds the greatest joy in watching a student’s face light up when a difficult concept finally clicks.
The fourth-grade math and science teacher has been part of the Norco Elementary School family for 27 years. Prior to that, she began her teaching career in Beauregard Parish in 1996 before returning to teach in her hometown of Norco.
Naquin has not only returned to teach in her hometown, but also from great adversity.
She had been experiencing a consistent headache leading up to the first day of school last year – this wasn’t alarming at first, as she notes this wasn’t an abnormal experience for her.
“I didn’t pay any attention to it – I’ve always had headaches,” Naquin said.
However, on the first morning classes were set to begin, and before leaving her home for school, a serious issue emerged. Her children found her seizing on the floor of their home, the result of a brain aneurysm.
She was hospitalized and had to undergo an emergency procedure to relieve the pressure of the aneurysm. Naquin was hospitalized for a month, from mid-August until into her return home in September. She’s undergone multiple brain surgeries since, her last recently on June 30, to control the aneurysm.
“I don’t actually remember my first month of being in the hospital,” Naquin said. “I think that part of it was more scary for my kids and my husband, having to go through that whole process. One of my friends came to stay with me to help me recover at home while my husband went back to work – that was after the hospital and I don’t even remember that.”
What caused the aneurysm is a mystery.
“They don’t know,” said Naquin. “I’ve had headaches my whole life, so I asked if maybe this was something that’s been an issue for a long time – was it always bleeding in my brain this whole time?” Naquin said. “They have no idea. So, that part of it is kind of scary, because any time I get another headache, it’s something I do worry about.”
She was away from her students through the fall, but Naquin returned to her classroom and her Norco Elementary family in January.
“I thought it would be good for my brain to get back to work,” Naquin said. “I was feeling really well and recovered, and I wanted to get back to my kids at school. I missed them. And my doctors thought it would be good for me to get back to work and use my brain more than I would be just sitting around.”
She said her students and her co-workers made her first day back very memorable.
“My students were super-excited. I had videos from them from the first couple days of school,” said Naquin. “And my first day back … it was really a heartwarming moment.”
Likewise, she said her community uplifted her and her family during a scary and difficult time.
“My community and my school is amazing,” Naquin said. “Tons and tons of prayers, meal trains … they did anything they could to help, and the amount of prayers really helped me, the surgeons and our family.”
Naquin was inspired to teach early in her life – she knew she loved working with children. She credited many outstanding teachers she had growing up for showing the way, and babysitting throughout high school reinforced her decision to pursue education.
Over the years, she’s had the chance to teach the children of some of her former students.
“Those have been cool moments for me,” said Naquin. “For the past four or five years it’s kind of been like that, just something where I’ve been around long enough to teach both you and your child now, another generation.”
