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Posted on: 1/16/25
Shaniqua Berry considers herself a “lifelong learner.” Her friends call her a “human encyclopedia” because of all the information she’s been able to retain.
“My love of learning is what helped me through my jobs and basically my life,” said Berry. “You would think having a kid right after high school, you’d be stuck. But you’re not stuck with what you see in front of you. There’s so many different avenues and options, and I took every avenue to get where I’m at now.”
Berry is the newest addition to the Grant Innovation department for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a department that was just a team of one. After the birth of her daughter, Berry took a year off after she graduated from Harding University High School in 2010 before she went to Johnson & Wales University.
She was studying fashion and working retail at Old Navy, but felt that there was a deeper calling for her to give back. She decided then that she would work for the school system. In 2017, her first role in CMS was as a teacher assistant at her alma mater.
“I worked under Eric Ward who was the principal then,” said Berry. “I worked with a lot of different grades, and did a lot of different tasks. It was my first education experience, and I was like, ‘I like this a lot.’”
At the time, Berry’s teacher assistant position at Harding was covered by a grant. When the funding ran out, she left Harding and went to work as a pre-K assistant at Hickory Grove Elementary School. It was while there she heard about the district’s Teaching Residency program. Berry signed up and was part of the district’s second cohort.
While completing her residency, Berry worked as a fifth grade teacher at Oakdale Elementary School and then as a second grade teacher at Shamrock Gardens Elementary School.
But around the time Berry completed her residency, the pandemic hit and she realized that while she enjoyed working in education, she didn’t want to be in the classroom. Berry went to work for Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) as a dual enrollment coordinator.
“It was getting overwhelming, but I still wanted to be in education,” said Berry. “I still wanted to help.”
After a couple of years at CPCC, Berry felt that there was still something missing. The money was there to help students take classes for free, but she felt that there wasn’t enough additional funding for programs in the schools.
Now as a grant developer, she’s able to help schools and employees find additional funding through grants. Berry also works closely with the CMS Foundation while securing grants, updates the Grant Innovation website and puts together a newsletter that not only shares opportunities, but highlights staff and their fundraising efforts through DonorsChoose.
Berry said she finds it to be most rewarding when she’s able to help staff find grant opportunities that allow them to open doors they might not have thought they could open.
“It’s like a lightbulb when people see that they have another option,” she said. “They know that there’s another way, they just have to get there. Being able to help them through these other ways, it’s wonderful.
“I’m here to help,” Berry added. “I’ve gotten to see CMS from a teacher standpoint, an outside standpoint as a partner, and now on the back end in Central Office, which most people probably never get to do. But one thing I’ve found is there are always people who are genuine, and there are just a lot of genuine people who work here.”
