Shark of a forensics director takes a year off

Shark. Control freak. No-nonsense.
Shannon Valdivia, the 5-foot-1-inch director of the award-winning MHCC forensics team, doesn’t deny these words used to describe her. But there came a point last spring when she realized she needed a break.

Valdivia made the decision to take one year off as leader of the school’s highly regarded debate team. Former assistant Liz Kinnaman is serving as interim director for the 2012-13 academic year, before Valdivia intends to return.
“The only reason I considered (a year off) was because I had Liz as my assistant,” said Valdivia.

With an admitted controlling streak, Valdivia just had to know that if she were to step aside, her replacement could hold the team to the high level of excellence for which it has become known.

After speaking with Michael Dugaw, her mentor and former coach at Lower Columbia College (LCC) in Longview, Wash., Valdivia knew it was time to follow through with her “crazy idea.” Dugaw asked her if she was having fun, or if she was starting to resent her forensics work. Her reply to both questions was “sometimes.”

Dugaw told her to take a break and to not apologize for it.
Valdivia, 41, said serving as forensics director for more than 10 years has been extremely time-intensive, emotionally and physically exhausting, and required many personal sacrifices.

Those commitments have played a big role in her single status and the fact she has no children, she said.

“It’s hard to explain to someone that they are going to share you with 10-12 students… or explaining why I’m here until 11 p.m. working with (the students) on a week before a tournament,” she said.

All the while, Valdivia had the added burden of caring for her disabled mother, who lives with her and is fighting a seventh battle with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Her mother’s cancer resurfaced about a month after Valdivia made the decision to step down as director.

“The Good Lord must have known something was coming,” said Valdivia.
The cancer helped to validate her choice, but she has mixed emotions about leaving forensics, if only temporarily.

She continues to teach at MHCC and finds it difficult to be around the buzz of the team before a tournament, knowing she’s not in charge. She plans to get away and go to a Washington State football game in Pullman this weekend while the forensics team competes at its first tournament at Lewis and Clark College, so she won’t be tempted to coach.

She plans to attend a few of the tournaments at MHCC, including one against Lower Columbia College, where she began her forensics career and earned her associates degree in speech.

Since relinquishing control, Valdivia has more time for reading, photography and caring for her mother. Asked how she de-stresses, she erupted in laughter and eventually answered with “sleep.”

Valdivia enjoys grabbing a beer with friends and labels herself a “beer snob.”
She also frequently totes around her eight-pound Chihuahua, Chuy, who she calls her current boyfriend. “He loves me unconditionally and doesn’t give me any crap,” she said.

Although Valdivia has sometimes felt underappreciated and wonders about life if she hadn’t been so devoted to forensics, she has no regrets. Many students have become her extended family, and she’s not good with compliments, anyway, she said.

Her advice to anyone pursuing a career in forensics: “It won’t pay you squat, but the rewards are endless and sometimes you may not know what those rewards are until years after.”