English teacher Shelly Moore Krajacic of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been inducted into the 2024 class of the National Teachers Hall of Fame (NTHF). Photo Credit: Wisconsin Education Association Council
I am always excited when the National Teachers Hall of Fame (NTHF) announces the names of exceptional educators who have been inducted into their hallowed halls. This year, the organization has selected Shelly Moore Krajacic, an educator at South Milwaukee High School, as one of the five teachers nationwide who has been so honored.
Shelley earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Education from University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, in 199y7. She earned her Masters degree in English/Language Arts from the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, in 2006. She completed the requirements for her PhD in Urban Education from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 2024. She became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2017.
Shelly began her career in the classroom in 1998 at Ellsworth Community High School, where she taught English and Theatre until 2018. She then taught English Education courses at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee before transferring to South Milwaukee High School in 2021. There she teaches in the English Department and serves the school as their Student Leadership Advisor. In all, her career as an educator spans 23 years.
“It is my obligation to see my students in ways they have never seen themselves,” Shelly asserts. “I need to see possibilities in them that they never knew existed and to help them believe in themselves enough to discover pathways to those possibilities,” she continues. This is a mission she does not take lightly. “Teaching is the single greatest profession there is,” Shelly declares.
The NTHF honors teachers through an annual recognition program, inducting five outstanding educators nationally every year. The organization, located on the campus of Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, was founded in 1989. The recognition program annually honors five of the nation’s most outstanding PreK-12 educators who have at least 20 years of teaching experience. To visit their website, click on NTHF.
