Interests: Shelly Simonds is a writer, public-school parent and teacher living in the Hilton area of Newport News, Virginia. The mother of two school-age daughters, she is heavily involved in Newport News Public Schools. She has served as president of the Hines Middle School PTA for the past two years. She also has recent experience as a teacher at Hilton Elementary School and a previous career in journalism and public relations. She met her husband, an aeronautical engineer, while earning a master’s degree in communication from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. She completed her undergraduate degree at Bucknell University majoring in International Relations and earning Phi Beta Kappa academic honors. She has spent years living overseas; in Chile, Spain and Australia.