Only you can stop your progress. Set your plan and make it happen no matter the obstacles ahead. Someone wants to see you succeed.  Shea Collins

Shea Collins is on a leadership journey—one that her mother recognized in her long before her mother was in the last stages of cancer and she dubbed Shea with the nickname “Mouth.”  Always looking for ways to improve herself, those around her and the opportunities for her students, Ms. Collins currently serves as the Director of Student Activities (DSA) at Midlothian High School in Chesterfield County, Virginia. She is fueled by others who are hardworking and diligent and when you are with her, you feel that same vibrancy and energy.

Ms. Collins is an African American female and is the first and only female of color to hold the title of DSA in a county with 11 high schools.  “It’s okay to be the first but I don’t want to be the last.” 

Ms. Collins has been the first at many things. She was the first Black female in school history selected as the Varsity Head Girls Basketball Coach at Prince George High School in Virginia. She then moved to Chesterfield County and after five interviews for five different jobs and five rejection letters—where she saw very few women or men of color in those roles—she applied for Director of Student Activities (DSA) in a different school system.  After serving in the city of Richmond for five years, she returned to Midlothian High School where she oversees all of the sports teams and academic and activities advisers.  She is a liaison for community and school building use, manages all of the transportation needs for teams and field trips and handles everything else thrown in her direction throughout the day. 

A primary area where she has made huge strides in improvement is reflected by the diversity of her coaching staff. When Ms. Collins started in her current position, there was only one person of color coaching at a school with 33 sports teams and a minority population of more than 20%. She set a goal that the percentage of coaches of color would reflect the percentage of students of color in her school. Four years later, she has met that goal and 20% of her coaching staff are people of color.

As a coach, Collins held high standards for her players. She says her players would always say, “Just do it. Coach is crazy.”  However, she knew that they could feel her love for them. By “crazy,” it is easy to see that the standards she set were hard for young girls to imagine as they entered her program but she held their focus and they rose to the challenge.  In nine years of coaching, she sent ten girls to college to play basketball from a school that had never seen that level of success.

Ms. Collins takes her own professional development to heart and encourages it in those around her.  At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, Ms. Collins lead a book study for her coaches using InSideOut Coaching by Joe Ehrmann. It was a way for her coaches to connect and think about the future of their teams.  It was also a way for them to reflect on loyalty, determination, diligence and improvement—all qualities Collins holds in high regard.

She continues to hold those high standards for herself and is in the midst of working on her Doctor of Education in Leadership and Organizational Change at Northcentral University.  She is focusing closely on her doctoral thesis, “Can a minority identified high school student’s academic achievement and college readiness be influenced by a teacher of the opposite race?” She has had plenty of lived experiences to lean on and now she will formally study the subject to provide insight for future generations of students and educators.

When asked what advice she gives to others, she reflected about a vow that she made to herself to always strive to be better. She promised herself that she would set up opportunities to put herself in the position to be the best.  “You can’t wait for other people to open the doors for you. If you know that you have a passion, you have to take the reins and go for it yourself.  You are the best person to write your story.”

Ms. Collins continues to write her own story. Her DSA position is not a stopping point. It is a part of her story and a part of her journey in leadership.

Additional professional involvement:  At the state and national level, Shea Collins is a member of the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (VIAAA), National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAA), the Global Community of Women in High School Sports and the National Organization of Minority Athletic Directors (NOMAD).  She currently serves on the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Sportsmanship and Diversity Committee.  She also works regional and VHSL state tournaments. She chairs the VIAAA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, is Founder of the Huddle Talk with Ms. Collins, and is a regular presenter for the New AD’s Workshop.  She is an instructor for the Leadership Training Courses for Athletic Administrators Certification through the NIAAA and a presenter and panelist on various Athletic and Leadership platforms. She has enjoyed watching her two sons play sports and enjoys having other people coach them.