Know Your Neighbors: Shauna Havener , Graduate assistant

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Shauna Havener, 42, of Sterling, works as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois University, where she coordinates a program which partners future physical education or special education teachers with disabled students.

Havener has two daughters, Nichole Shaw, 16, and Kayleen Shaw, 12, both of Sterling, and is the daughter of Nancy and Bill Havener of Sterling. Shauna also has a brother, Bruce Havener, of Denver.

On-the-job lesson: To never make assumptions about people when you first meet them.

Alma mater: I graduated in 1985 from Sterling High School. I have a bachelor’s degree in dance, and I’m working on my master’s degree in adaptive physical education at NIU.

Philosophy: Try to make everybody’s day better.

Oughta be a law: I’d like to see the federal mandate for physical education for children with disabilities put to better use.

Hearts: Waterskiing, downhill skiing, rock climbing, and dancing.

Haunts: Devil’s Lake, Wis., and the beach.

Hero: The majority of the professors in the physical education department at NIU. They’re fabulous role models.

First job: I was a dance assistant when I was 13 at Dale Dance Studio, Sterling. I loved it. I enjoyed dancing and teaching.

First car: A Z-28 Camaro. 19.

Read this: “Collapse,” by Jared Diamond. It’s about the collapse of ancient societies.

People say I look like: My mother.

Phobias: Heights.

Guilty pleasure: Chocolate.

I’d like to meet: Martha Graham, one of the founders of modern dance.

Trading places: I’d like to be Bill Gates, to have the ability to benefit the lives of so many people through charity.

Trading spaces: I’d like to visit Australia. I want to see the Great Barrier Reef.

Best thing about Sterling: It’s a close-knit community.

Do you know someone who ought to be featured in Know Your Neighbors? Write to Phil Hartman at phartman@svnmail.com or call 800-798-4085, ext. 524.