Getting to know your neighbor
Editor’s Note: Getting to Know Your Neighbor is a regular feature spotlighting residents in Franklin County and how they look at certain things.
Name: Shanna Moore Ozbirn
Hometown: Red Bay
Place of employment: Red Bay High School
Q: What is the best thing about your job?
A: The best part of my job is that it does not feel like a job. I love getting up and going to school each day. I have recently made a change from teaching kindergarten to teaching fifth/sixth grades. I am teaching several classes of history, which is my favorite subject.
I loved school as a child and student and feel like this is what I was meant to do. I enjoy the small school environment and getting to know my students and their families. I also enjoy having the same schedule as my daughters.
Q: If you weren’t in your current profession, what would be your ideal job?
A: Up until my junior year of high school I had thoughts of becoming an OB/GYN. I think it is a wonderful profession that would be very rewarding, yet difficult at times, like education. That is the only other career outside of education that I have ever considered or see myself doing.
Q: If you could change places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
A: I would probably choose the daughter of a large plantation owner in the old south during the 1800s. I love reading about this era and all the beautiful homes, so this is the only person I could think about changing with.
Q: If you could sit down to dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
A: If I could sit down to dinner with anyone dead or alive I would have to choose Barbara Walters. It is not that I am a huge Walters fan, but I am in awe of all she has done in her long career. I read her biography last summer and was amazed at all the glass ceilings and barriers she has broken through in her lifetime as a female journalist. I would love to hear stories of the individuals that that she has had the opportunity to interview and the places that she has visited in her career.
Q: What’s the best present you’ve ever received?
A: The best present I ever received was a trip to Disney World from my parents. We had not been in several years and as a surprise at Christmas my parents wrapped up a box with a stuffed Mickey Mouse and a printed page telling of a week-long trip for us, complete with tickets and rooms at a Disney Resort. I cried and when I looked up dad was wiping tears away too! This was this first time we went as a family of 4 and many memories were made.
Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: My favorite childhood memory would probably be attending Alabama football games with my parents. We would leave from Red Bay on Friday evenings, often times after the Red Bay Tiger football games, and head to Tuscaloosa or other SEC schools and be there until Sunday. We spent several Thanksgivings and my birthday parked around Legion Field preparing for the annual Iron Bowl game between Alabama and Auburn, since all three events often fell within the same week. By traveling with the Tide I was privileged to see many southern college campuses as well as others to the north such as Penn State University. Traveling to the Alabama bowls game each year was also an exciting event. One that stands out is the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii. I remember swimming in the ocean on Christmas Day, which was a big deal to a kid.
Q: What do you think of as your greatest accomplishment in life?
A: My greatest accomplishment would be graduating from college with a Masters degree in Education while being a single mom. Also, I became the first person in my family to attend and graduate from college.
Q: If you only had one meal left, what would it be?
A: It would have to be a meal from my grandmother Magdelene’s house. She passed away nine years ago and I loved to eat supper at her house. She was, in my eyes, the best cook in the world, and her meal of roast, corn, fried squash, mashed potatoes and cornbread was my favorite. For dessert, warm pound cake and milk would top the meal off.
Q: If you won a million dollars, what would be your first purchase?
A: I would take my entire family on a trip! We all love traveling and enjoy spending time together so I can’t think of a better way to spend a million dollars.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
A: I would choose to visit Cuba. The history of Cuba intrigues me greatly and there are many historical events that have been centered around Cuba. I would also love to see the sugar and tobacco plantations.
Q: If you were the President of the United States, what would be your first law that you would enact?
A: The first thing I would do is enact legislation to allow prayer and Bibles back in public schools. I think it is sad that the Bible and prayer have been taken out of public school and they are in worse condition now than they have ever been. Our country was founded on the very principles that are now being taken out of the daily classroom environment.
Q: If you were in local government, what would be the first thing you would change about the area?
A: One of the things I’d address is to look for ways to make Red Bay more attractive to other industries. This would make for more job opportunities for everyone, mainly our younger generations that will be completing college and will not have to look elsewhere to find jobs if they do not want to leave this area.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Franklin County?
A: It is hard to pick my favorite thing about Franklin County. It is a wonderful and beautiful place to live, work, and play. I love that when you go to town or the store you see people you know, and everyone is so friendly. Your neighbors are very helpful in times of need, whether great or small. I can’t imagine a better place to live.
Q: What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?
A: Something about myself that might be surprising to others is that I really enjoy coloring and cutting hair. I do lots of my friends hair as well as my own. I have often thought of getting my cosmetology license so that I could have a shop and work in the evenings.
