Shelley Gill-Meisler
Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher
Shelley has taught generations of Aspen Country Day School children to read — and more importantly, to love reading. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she has a BA in elementary education from Westminster College. Parent of two ACDS graduates, she has been a teacher at our school since 1993.
Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
My First Grade teacher, Mrs. Davis. All I wanted to do was learn how to read, but my mom — who was a teacher and a principal, actually — wouldn’t teach me, because she said I wasn’t ready. So I had to wait until I was actually in First Grade. And I learned instantly. I loved it, and that’s why I loved Mrs. Davis. I adored her.
What’s the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?
Probably moving here. I just drove across the country by myself from Pennsylvania because I wanted to ski.
What was cool when you were younger but isn’t cool now?
Smoking cigarettes. Definitely not cool now. I didn’t smoke, but a lot of people did.
What’s something we wouldn’t know about you?
I’m a D.A.R., a Daughter of the American Revolution. My (8th-great) great uncle James Armstrong, on my mother’s side of the family, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. And so after the war, the newly formed government of the United States didn’t have any money to pay the soldiers, so they gave them land in the 13 original colonies. The property that I grew up on is from that original piece of property.
