Shelby Miller - 2013

For our next Where Are They Now we decided to ask former 2013 AHS grad Shelby (Eddington) Miller what she’s doing now since her time at AHS. Shelby teaches English to speakers of other languages. She also has since moved and now lives in Pennsylvania. Read more to learn about Shelby and all of the wonders life has brought her since graduating from Arlington!

What year did you graduate from Arlington? 

2013 

What university did you attend? 

Lancaster Bible College 

What did you major in? 

I completed my Bachelor’s of Science in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), with an Intercultural Studies focus, and a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies. 

How was your college experience?

Throughout college, I had the opportunity to travel to several other countries such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, India, China, and Israel to teach English and for other missions opportunities. Although most people think of Amish country when they hear Lancaster, PA (and they wouldn’t be wrong), the city is actually extremely diverse and has received 20 times more refugees per capita than any other US city. Because of the many refugees and immigrants living in my city, I had many opportunities in college to work with resettlement agencies to teach English to newcomers. While I loved teaching English to these amazing individuals right here in Lancaster, the highlight of my college career was completing my 4 week practicum in Beijing, China where I taught at Beijing Union University. I also found time to get married while in college to my husband, Nate in 2015. 

What are you doing now since graduating college? 

For the last 5 years, I have worked as an Adult Instructor for Community Education at Lancaster-Lebanon IU-13, a local non-profit that provides adult education through High School Equivalency, ESL, and Family Literacy classes. Throughout my short time there, I have taught individuals from 40 different countries. My favorite thing to teach is grammar and idioms! In addition to teaching, I’m also a mother to the most amazing kids. My husband and I grew our family through international adoption, and our 3 children joined our family in May of 2021. Our children, Vasia, Vitali, and Eliza were born in Kyrgyzstan, located in Central Asia, and came to America at the ages of 6, 3, and 2 only speaking and understanding Russian. They are now 8, 5 and 4, speaking all English and love eating pizza. We traveled to Kyrgyzstan 3 different times to complete our adoption, and spent in total about 4.5 weeks there. It’s an absolutely amazing country, and we hope to visit there again someday. 

What do you miss the most about Arlington? 

The support and care that comes from a tight knit community. 

What advice would you give to students that are currently still in high school? 

Any opportunity you get to travel, take it! There are a lot of great things that come from being from, and living in, a small town community, but there are so many amazing things to experience around the world too! You’re not too young to travel to amazing places, even in high school!