In Shelley Emslie’s fifth-grade class at Swan River School, students listened with rapt attention while Emslie explained the rules of her traditional end-of-year auction. As the bidding began, the students squealed with excitement and flashed the multicolored money they had earned over the course of the school year.  

The fifth graders duked it out for stuffed llamas, sticker books, a collection of mugs and anything else Emslie could dig up in her classroom. 

“They get the benefit of me auctioning off 28 years' worth of stuff,” Emslie laughed.  

"They’re antiques!” one student exclaimed before buying a mug for $91.50, all cash.  

“Make sure you put those in the dishwasher,” Emslie said. “They’ve collected a lot of dust over the years.” 

Emslie’s students could not have been more excited about their last day of school, but for the longtime teacher, the day carried a little more weight.  

This was Emslie’s last day at Swan River School, where she began her teaching career at 26 years old. After 28 years at the rural school, Emslie retired at the end of the school year. 

“It’s just been such an emotional roller coaster,” she said of her final day in the classroom. “I couldn't get out of the car this morning. I had to listen to Ozzy Osbourne Crazy Train to get myself out of the car because I'm bawling.” 

Swan River School Principal Josh Lee said, “It’s hard to put 28 years into words. Quite literally, her fingerprints are all over school. She has been a mainstay in the culture and a pivotal fifth grade year for students, and her impact will not fade quickly here.” 

And yet, even with the impact of her innovative tenure at Swan River School, Emslie insisted that it’s her colleagues and her students who mean the most to her after decades of teaching. 

“My biggest theme throughout all of this is that I stand on the shoulders of many greats,” she said. “I am the teacher I am, because I've had great mentors, I've had phenomenal colleagues that have helped me. My husband, who taught here for 28 years, has taught me so much, and he was the best teacher, the best coach.” 

When Emslie was 26, it was her then-fiancé Todd Emslie who suggested she apply for a teaching job. That first year, she taught sixth grade for a semester and was in a fourth-grade classroom for a year before moving to fifth grade, where she has been ever since. She was able to teach in the same building as her husband for two decades and watched her own children grow up in Swan River School. 

Over the years, Emslie developed her own style of teaching, with an emphasis on creative projects and technology that would define her time at Swan River School. She embraced the role of technology in education and played a key role in securing Chromebook laptops for the school. She teaches her students to use artificial intelligence while maintaining a balance with traditional learning methods because she believes it’s important to prepare students for the future they will experience.  

Her fifth graders love “genius hour,” a time when they get to experiment with a 3-D printer, T-shirt press and laser engraver. Emslie also encourages her students to use that time to code, create podcasts, direct plays or make jewelry. 

“When I first started here in the 90s, you had a teacher book, it had the red print, and you had the answer book, right? There’s been a shift to taking that step back and letting the kids have more say and more empowerment,” Emslie said. “I think my biggest strength is letting the kids teach me. I don’t have all the answers, and they can teach me, which is amazing.” 

Emslie is naturally curious herself, and years ago, she remembers walking through the expo at the International Society for Technology Education conference, where she saw an early model for a robotic 3-D printer. Immediately fascinated by the machine, she stopped to talk with the inventor. After hearing how it worked, she told him she wanted one, and he looked surprised.  

“He goes, ‘There are two kinds of teachers,’” Emslie said. “One will walk by and ask what it is, and he'll say 3-D printer, and give them the spiel, and they walk away. ‘But you,’ he says, ‘you're that other kind, and you're rare, because you stopped. You wanted to know what it was. You wanted to know how you could use it.’” 

Emslie still has that early 3-D printer model, which was sent to her for free on account of her curiosity.  

Emslie said her love for technology comes from her mother, who always told Emslie, “You can choose to be the pilot or a passenger.” Emslie remembers going to night classes when an early version of Microsoft Word was first released and that her house was one of the first to have a microwave in the 1970s.  

“My mother instilled in me to always be the pilot,” Emslie said. “I've learned over the years that sometimes being the pilot is a tough job, because you're coming in and you have all these ideas, and not everybody's at the same place you're at.” 

But Emslie was quick to add that her colleagues at Swan River School have been nothing but supportive of her novel and sometimes crazy ideas, and the collaborative, close-knit community has given her the foundation to explore new approaches to education. 

“I have the most supportive, amazing staff. What makes me a good teacher is I can run with these crazy ideas, and I run to fourth grade, or I run to seventh grade, and we bounce ideas off of each other.” 

Although she’s retiring from Swan River School, Emslie isn’t done teaching. She’s transitioning to a new role as the director of education and engagement at the Bigfork Art and Cultural Center, where she’ll work with Executive Director Julie Bottum to pioneer new opportunities at the community gathering space.  

“I don't think there's many people that can say they get two dream jobs in their lifetime,” said Emslie. “It's a dream. It's literally genius hour in my classroom, but on steroids. With Julie and the board and the history team at the Art and Cultural Center, it’s community engagement under one roof. We have the pottery studio and we have the museum and we have the maker studio... All of that together is just a gift for the community, and to be able to be a part of it, it’s a pinch me moment.” 

Much like with Swan River School, Emslie emphasized that she is simply grateful to be part of the organization. 

“With the Art and Cultural Center, I'm coming into something that Julie has built, and the board has built. I'm coming into this place of community and engagement and creativity that I wasn't a part of building, and I’m grateful to them.” 

It’s the theme of Emslie’s career: she focuses not on her own success or accomplishments but on the people around her who supported her journey. 

“I've been here 28 years” she said of Swan River School, “but everybody's helped me be here 28 years. You would not be in a place for 28 years if you didn't have the colleagues and the administration and everything that supported you. If I've learned anything over the 28 years, it's humility and being humble and understanding that it's not just you that got you there.” 

Reporter Elsa Ericksen can be reached at 406-758-4459 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.