Extraordinary school bus driver now has become assistant principal

Southport Elementary welcomes its new Assistant Principal Shelly Mongelli, who started her school career driving a bus.

SOUTHPORT, NC (WWAY) — The new Assistant Principal at Southport (NC) Elementary School has taken a non-traditional route to an administrative position, and she started the journey by driving side streets in a school bus full of children.

Now, she’s featured as one of WWAY’s Extraordinary People of the Cape Fear, the monthly segment produced by Good Morning Carolina’s Donna Gregory.

Shelly Mongelli’s dream of becoming an educator started decades ago, while she was working at her daughter’s daycare.

Her child was young then, and Mongelli decided to further her own education.

As the calendar flipped to the new millennium, Mongelli spent 8 years earning her associate degree at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC, learning to drive a school bus and working as a teacher’s assistant at Lincoln Primary School in Brunswick County, NC.

“I knew that was part of it, that I needed to have that [bus driving certificate] to be hired, so before I even applied, I went and took the bus course because I knew that would help me get the job,” Mongelli explained.

She recalled those years fondly, saying she really enjoyed making sure each young rider’s day started off well.

“I’m their first face that they see before they go to school, and I just tried to make sure that I was positive with them, and developed relationships,” she said.

“To this day I have kids who see me out and they say, ‘You used to drive my school bus,’ and it makes me so happy that I made that much of an impact on their life.”

Once Mongelli earned her associate degree, she started taking classes at UNC Wilmington and earned her bachelor’s degree in one and a half years.

She then became a first-grade teacher, and that lasted for 7 years.

She also remarried and is now stepmom to her husband’s three children.

During her time as a classroom teacher, she went back to school to earn her master’s degree in Language and Literacy at UNCW and became an instructional coach at Belville Elementary in 2019.

Not one to stick with the status quo, Mongelli went back to UNCW in 2022 and started her administrative add-on licensure classes, which she finished in May of 2023.

Once her front-office internship at Belville Elementary was complete, she was hired over the summer at Southport Elementary as Assistant Principal.

She’s excited to start the new school year and hopes to build connections with a brand-new crop of students.

“Making an impact on kids’ lives, that’s all I ever wanted to do,” she said, holding back tears.

“When I was in the classroom, I felt like I had those connections, building those relationships. And [they are] lifelong connections, where students still reach out to me and say how much I impacted their lives.”

The new Brunswick County School Superintendent, Dale Cole, said he was happy to approve Mongelli’s transfer papers as one of his first duties when he arrived over the summer.

“When you look at Shelly, she’s the story that we want to put out everywhere across the state: that teaching, and then being a school assistant principal, or principal, are wonderful careers,” he said.

Ironically, Mongelli will come full circle in her new position, since Assistant Principal duties at Southport Elementary include coordinating the buses.

“I’ll be dealing a lot with discipline and buses and testing, which is what assistant principals do,” she laughed.

She also wants to bring some of the energy from early in her career into this new role.

“[I’ll be] interacting with students, making sure that every day they feel safe at the school, ensuring that they’re getting the best from the teachers, and working alongside the principal.”

She has even higher aspirations, once she learns the ropes as second in command.

“I would love to eventually become a principal and have my own school so one day that is definitely on the radar, for sure.”

This extraordinary educator has words of wisdom for people who are facing an uphill battle in reaching their goals.

“If you have a dream that you want that really means something to you, never give up on that,” she advised.

“I’m not saying it was easy– there were definitely some hard times in there– which is why…just take a break, give yourself some grace, know that you’re human, and just keep pushing,” she said.

“Just don’t give up. It’s worth it in the end, for sure.”