MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Milledgeville native Shannon Hill felt a calling to serve her community. That calling started out as two friends just kidding around but planted a seed within her that eventually grew and turned into her earning a spot on the Baldwin County Board of Education.

Born and raised in the Harrisburg community as an only child to a single mother, Hill is a product of the school system of which she now serves as a board member and says her maternal grandfather played a big role in her early life.

“My grandfather was very influential in my life,” Hill said. “He was a hard worker and a compassionate person. I was more like his child than just his grandchild.”

After graduating from Baldwin High School she decided to further her education at the oldest public historically black college in Georgia, Savannah State College, now known as Savannah State University. Hill earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration before coming back home where she got her start in the education field. After serving as a teacher in the local school system and within the education department at the Bill E. Ireland Youth Development Center from 1994-2003, she became an office manager at the Macon Land Bank Authority where she is still employed to this day.

Fast forward to 2016 to when Hill was talking on the phone with her good friend Quentin T. Howell who told her there would be an opening for her district on the school board and that she would be a good fit. She jokingly went along with it but told Howell not to hold her to it.

“So of course I was approached again about it and for some reason it was weighing on me,” Hill said. “Not that it was a burden, but I needed to pray about it.”

When asked if she felt she was called to serve the newest member of the BOE said, “I really did. I felt like God was leading me to do it. I went for it, and this is the outcome.”

The outcome was a victory back in the May election where Hill took two-thirds of the vote to become the new representative for District 2. That night after finding out she told The Union-Recorder she was both “elated” and “excited” to serve her community moving forward.

Now almost two months on the job, Hill says her experience as a board member has been positive overall.

“Everything is going good and I’m just excited to be part of the change and the decision-making to go forth with changing,” she said. “I know that some people say that change is not good, but you can make change to where it is beneficial to everyone.”

The change to which she referred is one of the more daunting tasks a board can face. Having just taken office in January, a vote was scheduled for the February meeting that would change the landscape of the four elementary schools in Baldwin County. New districts were proposed to balance enrollment along with a paired school option that would make two schools kindergarten through second grade and the other two as third through fifth grade. Hill admitted the details were a little unclear to her in the beginning.

“I didn’t know what it was at first, but then I went to the forums and with Dr. Price explaining it to me I understood it,” she said. “It really made me understand. Also seeing the map really opened my eyes. All of that just really helped me. That’s when the light bulb came on—having the understanding of what’s going on in our community because I’m very passionate about our community and the children and not just the community that I live in but Milledgeville as a whole.”

Hill recognizes God along with good examples set by her family as the reasons she has been successful in life. She cites Proverbs 3:6 as a verse that guides her on her daily walk, which says: “Acknowledge the Lord in all thy ways and he will direct your path.”

Hill’s path was laid in front of her by her influential family members who showed her that she could do anything she wanted and she wished to pass that message along to others.

“Seeing those things and how I was brought up, even though I come from a single parent home, I want to let people in my life know that you still can be something. You still can accomplish things. Don’t let people put a label on you just because of where you come from. I came from a single parent home in the Harrisburg community, but that doesn’t dictate my life. I still presently live in Harrisburg and I’m proud of where I live, but that doesn’t dictate my life. A person can be anything they choose to be.”