Michael Shaver

I am a proud public high school teacher & educator- Global History, Media Studies, Sociology and Economics- and boys soccer coach in northern New York state. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I also advise student mentors in the Big Brother-Big Sisters program- a program I benefited from as a child and which I have volunteered for, as a Big, over the last twenty years.

I am a proponent and advocate for my profession, as well as an opponent of those who seek to further perpetuate a power shift from the middle and working classes through so called "reform" movements. The current reform movement- ala the Common Core State Standards, privatization and standardized testing- only seeks to destroy our current public education model and replace it with a model that puts profits over real student gains.

My experiences with soccer have been varied, but always as a youth coach/trainer. I am a former boys high school varsity head coach of 11 years and now work with Empire City Soccer Academy and Lake Placid Soccer Centre providing Coerver coaching team and elite player training.

I love history, art, music, a great movie, a twisted plot, beautiful opera, captivating musical theater, popular cultural references, Buck Owens, Ryan Adams, the Jayhawks, Dallas Green, Chris Stapleton, the beautiful game and, above all, Liverpool FC.

Known to sing random out-of-tune songs and to play the guitar poorly . . .