GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) -- When Erin Shadowens first visited CA Frost Environmental Science Academy and Blandford School, she knew she had found something special.
“I loved where I was in Brooklyn, and that school is very, very special to me,” Shadowens said. “If I was going to leave there, I needed to go someplace where I really felt like I was going to find a home. As I went through that interview process and visited Frost and met the kids, met some families, met some staff, I really felt like this could be that home for me.”
Now serving as principal for both schools, Shadowens brings more than a decade of teaching and leadership experience, along with a deep appreciation for the unique environmental focus that defines the Frost and Blandford communities.
“CA Frost and Blandford have an environmental science theme that is really focused on getting the kids outdoors and learning and appreciating nature in our natural world,” she said. “Many schools these days, they think that we either value the outdoors and play, or we value academics. Actually, they’re very much connected.”
Her path to education wasn’t always certain. Originally, she planned to go to law school, but thinking back on the teachers and adults who poured into her, she changed her mind.
“It was time for me to do something with everything that had been invested in me.”
That realization led her to Teach for America, where she began teaching second and third grade in Detroit. She then moved to Brooklyn, New York, spending nearly a decade teaching and then growing into an administrative role.
Returning to Michigan felt like coming full circle.
“As I was having a family of my own, I really wanted my son to have some of the really core memories that I got to have growing up here,” she said. “Michigan’s a really special place, and I’m really excited to live here again.”
At Frost and Blandford, Shadowens’ philosophy centers on connection, belonging, and high expectations.
“I want scholars to have a sense that they are seen for who they are, that they're appreciated for who they are, that they can be themselves, and that we want them here,” she said. “They belong here.”
