Attendance Secretary Shelley Dowling Loves Her Family, the Outdoors, and Her Job at WHS

by Eikaiva Boyer for Walkersville High School Lion’s Pride

Shelley Dowling, the new attendance secretary of Walkersville High School, offers a warm smile to each and every student who walks through the front door at WHS.

Dowling went to Old Mill High School in Anne Arundel County and initially went to college at University of Maryland, Baltimore County to study chemistry. A couple thousand dollars later, during her junior year, she switched her major to philosophy and then studied pre-law, initially wanting to become an attorney. “I wanted to become an attorney because of the research you would have to do. Also, it’s the looking for answers, black and white part I liked, since I feel I have a logical mind. I like the challenge to support your position and the information to contradict,” said Dowling.

After college, she worked as a paralegal for two years, but soon found her real niche in life: motherhood. She had her first son, who is now 16 years of age. “I feel I could only be good at one thing—being an attorney or a mom. I feel I could only do one 100%, so I quit my job and decided to stay at home with him,” said Dowling.

After having another son, (13 years old) and a daughter (11 years old), she became an Instructional Assistant for the first two years after Oakdale High School opened (only having freshman and sophomore students for the first year, and then freshman, sophomore, and junior students for the second year). “I would drive myself crazy being at home all day,” she commented. She left Oakdale after two years because her oldest son was an upcoming student at Oakdale. “He didn’t care we were in the same school, but I felt it was important he had his own space, his own environment where he could make his own choices [with] me not being there,” said Dowling.

During Dowling’s time at Oakdale High School, current WHS Principal Tracey Franklin was working as an Assistant Principal at Oakdale High. Dowling admired her leadership capabilities then and continues to admire them now. “You can see she is invested in this school and the students in it. When you have leadership like that, everything else kind of just falls into place,” she said. “The administrative team here is amazing.” But that’s not the only thing that makes Dowling’s day brighter; she truly cares about the students of Walkersville High. “The kids here are amazing, respectful, down to earth—they’re an eclectic group. I like to know what the kids are doing, what colleges they’re interested in, and what career paths they want to take. It just makes everyday interesting,” said Dowling.

Along with enjoying her job as Attendance Secretary, being a mom to her own kids is the light of her life, and you can see it in her eyes and the way she talks about her kids. “It’s so fulfilling to see what we’ve (Dowling and her husband) taught them finally come together. I love seeing them voice their own opinion but doing it respectively.” Her all-time favorite part of being a mother is watching them grow and “coming into their own,” Dowling noted. “If I could be a mom full-time, I would.”

Dowling is very happy here at WHS and in the FCPS County, but why did she choose FCPS? “It actually fit with my kids’ schedules (all three of them actively participate in sports), and I got very lucky.”

Along with loving Frederick County, she absolutely loves Garrett County. “They have everything I like to do, skiing, white water kayaking (and rafting), and hiking trails. Things just like slow down when I’m there.” Unlike the rest of her family, she finds a liking to “going off” the grid. “It forces me to slow down, since my kids play sports in school, which makes us busy all the time.” Dowling commented on how going off the grid forces you to stop checking your email, or your phone in general. “If my husband and my kids are with me, I really have no reason to have it on me.”

Dowling is very family-oriented, going on day trips with her husband and kids frequently. “We go to Cunningham Falls and hike, Harpers Ferry, Hershey Park, and the battlefields in Gettysburg,” commented Dowling. Dowling has also been to France when she was 16 for eight weeks. “I went because my friend’s family was in the military and her mom’s family was in France so they invited me in the summer. I was a little nervous since I didn’t know any french.” Dowling now is familiar with bits and pieces of the language, but not fluent.

France wasn’t the only place she wanted to go, she also wants to visit Costa Rica and go on a Rainforest Tour, and travel to the Grand Canyon. “There’s just something I love about being outside. It’s the nature and the peace of it. It’s something that’s really calming, like at the end of the day you’re tired, but it’s a good tired,” commented Dowling.

Dowling also participates in community service activities, such as helping the athletic organizations that her children are involved in, donating to Christmas drives, and Toys for Tots. “It’s important to teach children about empathy and realizing that you have what some people don’t. It gives perspective on things. You get to feel joy through helping someone’s life. It also teaches how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. You can make things better for somebody else,” said Dowling.

Over the course of her years, she believes the most important lesson she has learned is to “Be respectful, and be honest. You know, everybody makes mistakes. It’s about owning what you do and learning what you did wrong and moving forward. With everybody you come in contact with, you really can’t go wrong with treating everyone with respect.”

Dowling can relate to being honest by having the job of an Attendance Secretary. She gives an example, “Everyone sleeps in sometimes — just be honest about it.”

“Everyone that’s important to you will understand if you’re honest. You can’t ever going wrong with telling the truth.”

Dowling commented on how “Life changes everyday. With every experience, it shapes our lives. I feel I have always been heading in one direction, but I take experience and learn from it. I continually learn how to put myself in someone else’s shoes and be empathetic to situations. I love to learn what makes people tick.”