Being Teacher Sherrie

Then & Now

Jaime Winston | Marketing & Communications

Kids love getting dirty. Sherrie West AS ’78, BS ’82 loves teaching kids.

Last fall, when a boy in her class proudly showed her the gooey earthworm he just captured on the playground, West saw an opportunity to teach. Instead of lecturing on the grossness of worms or the social etiquette of showing one off, West focused on science, explaining that the worm was just what the class needed for its compost pile.

“I am very science-based in my teaching; everything we do is science,” said West, a supervising teacher in the Melba S. Lehner Children’s School in Weber State University’s Department of Child & Family Studies. “Children are natural scientists, so I take advantage of that.”

Known for her enthusiasm — and her science projects — “Teacher Sherrie,” as students and parents call her, has spent more than 30 years instilling a love of learning in her students, a love that carries through to college and beyond.

In addition to recycling projects, such as the compost pile, West and her students have created instruments for a faux marching band and built a cardboard rocket ship. She also teaches what she calls “motorcycle math,” where the children predict the number of motorcycles they will see on a nearby road and graph the results. 

“My favorite thing that we did was grow crystals,” said Abigail Evans, one of West’s many former students who went on to attend college at WSU. “For sure, it gave me a love of Weber because it was a good learning environment.”

Evans currently studies political science and history at Weber State in hopes of one day becoming a United Nations diplomat. West can recall many students who became Weber State college students, including one who attended law school after graduation and another who went on a service trip to India to assist with cleft lip and cleft palate repairs.

Jennifer Evans BS ’94, Abigail’s mother, recalls meeting with West for parent-teacher conferences and joking about Abigail becoming too smart. “I blamed it on Teacher Sherrie,” she said.

West makes sure her students have the confidence to tackle public school. “She let us know that we were all very important people,” said Erin Packer AS ’07, BS ’09, a children’s school alumna who went on to graduate from Weber State in nursing. “Just to have that instilled at a young age was something that inspired me.”

West’s own Weber State education helped prepare her to work with students like Evans and Packer. 

After attending Snow College and Brigham Young University-Hawaii, West earned her bachelor’s degree in child development, with an emphasis in education, at Weber State in 1982, then received her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix in 2009. “When I came to Weber as a student, it was such a breath of freshness,” West said. “My professors gave me a clear understanding of how children behave. They taught me to create quality programs for children, not just theme-based, let’s-talk-about-birds-this-week types of programs.”

West learned developmentally appropriate practices for early childhood education from professors like Carol Tribe and Jean Kunz while working part time at the children’s school. “I had professors who were actual gurus. They knew what they were doing. They loved it; they lived it,” she said.

After graduation, West became a supervising teacher at the school. Prior to that, in 1980, she started a preschool at her home in South Weber, Utah, where she now spends half her day. At Weber State, she has also taught college courses, mentored Head Start teachers and served as the assistant director in curriculum for the children’s school. “I have just been so blessed in my life to do what I’ve done,” West said. “I’ve loved every ounce of teaching.”

West actually started her teaching career years before graduating from college.

As a student at Union Elementary in Fort Union, Utah, West gathered extra worksheets from teachers on the last day of school for her own class on her family’s patio. “Neighbors brought their kids over, and I taught them all through the summer,” she said.

Now, she asks the young students who leave her class to try their hand at teaching, too. 

“I always invite them back, two or three years in a row after they go to elementary school, to teach a lesson in my class,” West said. Last fall, a girl returned to teach the students about rocks. Recently, a boy who had entered first grade came back to her class to teach what he had learned about astronauts. “They have to actually make a plan,” she said.

West also taught throughout her junior high school and high school years, volunteering and working at day cares and summer recreation programs. When she was 17, West went on an educational cruise on the Mediterranean Sea. On the trip, she learned about a wide range of cultures and nationalities, from Italy to Egypt to Israel, and soon recognized a commonality: “Children played the same in every country,” West said. “I truly believe children learn through play, and they need that now more than ever.”

Building on the idea of learning through play, West co-authored two books, Sand and Water Play and Literacy Play, with teacher Amy Cox BS ’90 in 2001 and 2004, respectively. West has also represented Weber State while sharing principles from her books at professional conferences across the country. “Weber State has allowed me to grow and develop,” she said.

And she’s passed her love for teaching and science on to her own children.

West’s daughters Deserae Anderson and Aubrie Epperson BS ’09 work as teachers in Oregon. Her youngest daughter, Adrianna West BS ’13, is also a supervising teacher at the children’s school. Her son, Mark West AS ’15, is a Weber State student studying social work, with a minor in psychology.

“I’ve learned a lot of things from my mom that have helped me become a better teacher,” said Adrianna, a children’s school alumna and Weber State graduate in early childhood education. “I also see her teaching all of the staff in the school, giving them pointers, helping them come up with ideas of what they need to do to help the children.”

For those thinking of going into early childhood education, West has some advice. “Just do it,” she said. “If people want to go into early childhood, they will have a happy ride.”

Camie Bearden BS ’98, M.Ed. ’11, director of the children’s school, adds that early childhood educators should have a love for young children. “You’ve got to have a desire to help them grow and develop, and Sherrie definitely has that,” she said.

Every time a former student comes to visit, West sees the difference she makes.

“People will knock at my door and say, ‘Do you remember me, Teacher Sherrie?’” West said. “Many come back and say, ‘Teacher Sherrie, I’m a scientist.”