When Shavanta Hayes steps into her classroom at Germanna for the first time this fall, she carries with her not just textbooks and lesson plans, but a story of resilience, faith, and perseverance—a story that began at the very same institution more than 15 years ago.
“I didn’t finish high school traditionally,” Professor Hayes reflects. “I don’t like to say that I dropped out, but I quit.”
Grieving the loss of the grandmother who raised her, Professor Hayes found her motivation to complete her diploma at King George High School fading fast. “I wasn’t focused and really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,” she says.
She knew that if she took the traditional route to college, she likely wouldn’t succeed. Instead, she went to work at a local Food Lion, where she climbed from cashier to customer service manager. Though she was moving up, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. “I thought to myself, ‘I can’t do this forever. What’s my next step?’”
Her answer came during a quiet break outside the store. “I was sitting outside one day, and something told me to go to school. Some may call it an epiphany—I believe it was the Holy Spirit,” Professor Hayes recalls. The very next day, she began researching GED programs and soon enrolled in Germanna’s Middle College program, a pathway that gave her the chance to rewrite her story.
While still working full time at Food Lion, Professor Hayes attended classes at night until she earned her GED. Then, in what she calls a life-saving turn, the very program that helped her return to education offered her a job.
“The program that saved my life also yielded a full-time position,” she says. She became a program assistant with Middle College, beginning what would grow into a 15-year career at Germanna.
Along the way, Professor Hayes advanced her education as well as her career—earning an associate degree in business administration from Germanna, a bachelor’s degree in leadership from Old Dominion University, and most recently, a master’s degree in business from Virginia Union University.
Teaching, however, was never part of her plan.
“It was never on my radar. But when I finished my master’s degree, people kept asking me what my next step would be, and I didn’t know,” Professor Hayes says. Then, a conversation with a former supervisor shifted her path once again.
“Mark Haines, Germanna’s Associate Dean of Student Development, asked if I’d considered teaching the College’s introductory student development class. The more I thought and prayed about it, the more I began to love the idea of teaching at the institution that I feel saved my life.”
For Professor Hayes, stepping into the classroom is nothing short of a full-circle moment. “I want to go into this next phase as a professor being the type of professor I needed,” she says.
Today, Professor Hayes sees her younger self reflected in the students she encounters at Germanna. Their perseverance reminds her of her own path, and as she begins her teaching career at the institution that has been such a central part of her life, she hopes to be a source of grace and encouragement—the kind of professor who makes students feel seen, heard, and capable of more than they imagined.
“If I could give advice to my younger self, it would be to always bet on yourself,” Professor Hayes says. “Not graduating with my high school class shaped who I am today. I needed to go on the path I was on to get to the person I am now.”
For Professor Hayes, every step—every setback, every triumph—has led to this moment. And as she looks out at her first classroom of Germanna students, she will see not just their future, but her own journey coming full circle.
