New year, new start, new teachers. A fresh start and a chance to make a difference.

For Shannon Coffin, the new American Indian Academic Coach, this marks the start of a job she would deeply enjoy, would feel empowered by to help young Native teens make it through high school with a plan for their future and by default the rest of their lives.

Without a doubt, the best part is knowing she can make a positive impact on the youth, she said. It is a chance she did not get when she went through the same experiences, she explained.

“I was one of the Native kids coming through the Great Falls Public School system, and it took me a while to mature enough to go to college,” Coffin said.

Coffin made the choice to follow her current career roughly a year and a half ago, when working with the school district and parenting program “Safe Care.” Within the parenting she was able to “teach Native parents to be the best parents they could be,” she said.

She said she discovered her talent with reaching out to at-risk children, deciding she wanted to give back to her own people.

She plans to continue helping Native teenagers for as long as she can, Coffin is sure she made the right choice. She said she is at CMR to help, and plans to give it her all.

Coffin is at CMR for the 2015-2016 school year, stepping in for Jordann Lankford, who took a job with OPI for the school year.