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The deep interest in children’s well-being that made Rena a gifted teacher made her also a lifelong learner. She taught full-time while completing a master’s degree in education from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA with emphasis in reading, and then earned credentials in counseling and administration. Rena had the distinction of serving in all three of Tappahannock’s public schools; Essex Intermediate School, gifted/talented language arts, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades; Essex High School, reading/English, eighth and ninth grades; high school counselor, grades nine through twelve; coordinator/instructor, adult education evening classes at Essex High School; Tappahannock Elementary School, assistant principal. These roles gave Rena an unmatched perspective on how education worked, or didn’t work, on family life, and on intergenerational relationships, as well as on human nature. This perspective strengthened, even furthered, Rena’s conviction that reading is an unmatched way of teaching children to think and reflect, and is crucial to developing their character and imagination. A child who reads is a child whose inner life gives him the strength to find and follow his own way instead of heeding the crowd or wasting his gifts. Rena Shipp’s books about Carly and Lissa, two teenagers whose grandmother is raising them, offer not only warm, funny, and lively accounts of the stresses and successes encountered by those in this increasingly common family arrangement, but vividly present the incidents and actions that face all our children as they grow up and away from us. Children want to be free, and we want to free them. But we also want to protect them. Rena shows the difficulties facing both older and younger generations in this process of taking flight and offering shelter. Her rich and readable stories offer each generation food for thought and discussion. Contact: Rena Roberts Shipp, retired teacher/administrator Website: www.nannasway.com Webpage: www.chesapeakebaywriters.org Profile: Self-motivated individual with excellent communication skills Education: Bachelor of Arts Degree, Johnson C. Smith Univ., Charlotte, NC State Certification: Experience: Tappahannock Elementary School Assistant Principal Activities: Church musician |
Rena Roberts Shipp, born and raised in Cleveland County, North Carolina, received her bachelor’s degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte. After teaching sixth grade language arts in local schools for three years, she settled in Tappahannock, VA with her husband and son.