Joseph Pratt: People of the Scioto Renaissance: Sharee Price

Sep. 13—Price with a local student

Submitted photo

PORTSMOUTH- While there are still missions to be accomplished and hurdles to leap in the greater Portsmouth area, there is massive progress being made all over by everyday people who are either providing a service, volunteering, serving in office, or donating to good causes. We frequently hear that we are in a renaissance, as new developments continue to pop up, new events are added to the calendar, and progress is made. But why? These things don't manifest themselves.

In a weekly column, for one year, I plan on writing about a different member of the community who strives to make this renaissance go. I'll be highlighting business owners, volunteers, faith-based leaders, professionals, and more.

I am column seven into this journey, after highlighting five individuals, one couple, and a set of volunteer dogs. This time, I'm delving into my 14-year journalism background to highlight someone I've written for numerous times, but never about. Someone who is always working hard to make good things possible for area youth—Sharee Price.

Price has dedicated much of her life to the South Central Ohio Educational Service Center as a Gifted Services Coordinator for 14 school districts.

Her programs include the likes of District Mock Trial, Quiz Bowl, the Scioto County Honors Music Festival, the Scioto County Spelling Bee, the Visually Literate High School Art Show, the ESC Artist-in-Residency Program, the Youth MAX Leadership Conference, and the Summer Enrichment Scholarship Program.

She has served these programs and thousands of youths in this position for 18 years.

Of course, the community leader has a diverse background on top of her current position.

"Prior to my job at the ESC, I was the art teacher at Portsmouth High School for 27 years and have many fond memories of my time there," Price said. "I've been an adjunct art instructor at Shawnee State University off and on for over 30 years."

She has also served on the Portsmouth Mural Committee as the artistic director for several years and has painted alongside Robert Dafford, the artist responsible for the floodwall murals. On top of these accomplishments, she was the First Vice Chair on the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for the Southern Ohio Performing Arts Association for three years, has been a board member for the Portsmouth Wind Symphony for three years, is the Southeastern Ohio Public Relations Advocate for the Ohio Art Education Association, was a Grant Review Panelist for the Ohio Arts Council for five years, has served on the Competition Committee for the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education, has been a Scioto Foundation Scholarship Committee Member for 16 years, and is a Scioto Foundation UCAN Advisory Committee Member.

Price has been an active force for good in the community for over four decades, learning in her youth the importance of giving back.

"Although I may not have realized it at the time, I spent a good part of my childhood and young adult life serving the community in Coshocton, where I grew up," Price recalled. "Both of my parents were public school teachers and youth leaders in the Coshocton Presbyterian Church there, and we spent many evenings and weekends doing volunteer work for the community."

After the move, Price immediately got to work on making improvements in the community that fostered a more artistic environment and more enhanced educational opportunities.

"When I moved to Portsmouth and began teaching, I realized that teaching was my calling and that I was here to serve my students and the community as a whole," Price said. "Over the years, I developed close bonds with many of my students and their parents and consider many of them to be family. Many of my former students have stayed in touch throughout the years and nothing makes me happier than seeing them succeed in achieving their dreams and goals."

Each year that passes creates more memories and a bigger reason for Price to continue giving back.

"I've been involved since 1980, when I moved to Portsmouth and started my teaching career at Portsmouth and East Portsmouth High Schools," Price said. "I taught half-days at Portsmouth and half-days at East for about ten years, then became the full-time art teacher at Portsmouth. In 2007, I left teaching to take on a new challenge as the Gifted Services Coordinator at the ESC."

Despite working hard to provide the opportunities, she is always quick to give credit to local businesses and donors.

"Students are at the heart of all my programs, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention all of the businesses, organizations, and individuals who support my programs through their donations and grants," Price said. "Without the support of this community, none of these programs would be possible."

Of course, as with any job or mission, there are certain aspects that give Price even more drive to work as pristine as possible.

"One of my favorite programs in my current job is the Memory Project," Price said. "The Memory Project is a national initiative in which art students and their teachers create portraits for children living in orphanages throughout the world. When I came into my position at the ESC, I invited advanced art students and their teachers to participate in the project, and, to date, we have created a total of 446 portraits for children living in 15 different countries. We are the only site in the entire nation to have consistently created portraits each and every year for the past 17 years!"

When Price first moved to Portsmouth and began teaching art, there were no established high school art shows available for students to display their work. She worked with the community to find a venue and create an opportunity for Portsmouth City School high school art students to have a show to call their own. The first few exhibits were held at Marting's Department Store.

"We also exhibited work at Shawnee State University, a few local banks, and later our annual show found a more permanent home at the Southern Ohio Museum. Sara Johnson, founder of the Southern Ohio Museum, gave her full support to me as an artist and art teacher and to many of the projects my students undertook," Price said. "Since I moved into my role at the ESC, I've worked hard to include all our member school districts in the annual Visually Literate High School Art Show."

Price donated thousands of hours to the museum.

"Sara used to jokingly call me 'her best unpaid employee.' We collaborated in Artist-in-Residency programs, workshops for children, workshops for art teachers, and all kinds of exciting arts-related projects."

While art is a passion, in 44 years of being involved in the community, providing opportunities for youth has been the heart behind all of Price's actions and the results have been phenomenal.

"My mission at work is to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to learn and succeed, and I believe this mission is extremely important to the health and welfare of any community," Price said. "Students need opportunities to participate in programs that challenge them and that help them find their path in life."

With many nonprofit board positions, committee seats, and plenty of involvement across a wide array of programming, Price has learned that positive change is possible only if people are willing to step up and foster an environment for these opportunities to grow. She encourages others to join those who volunteer and work for positive change.

"It's very important for people to get involved in the community and in making it a better place to live," Price said. "Involvement in the community enhances our sense of belonging and encourages sharing and acceptance. We are fortunate to have so many caring community members here in Portsmouth and it's heartwarming to see younger people getting involved in projects intended to improve our town. They are the future and their work toward improving our community will instill a strong sense of belonging."

Sharee is one of those sources I go to frequently for quotes pertaining to a community program or event. She is a wonderful and caring person who often stays in the shadows to allow her students and donors to take the stage. She never gets the credit I firmly believes she deserves, but that is because she isn't the kind of person who demands it. She benefits from seeing the lives of those living in the community improved.

Former intern and friend, Nate Marcum, says it best, "If you didn't know any better, you'd think Sharee Price was an identical quintuplet. One week you'll see her at the courthouse overseeing Mock Trial, the next moment she's at the Vern Riffe Center introducing the Honors Music Festival, then you turn around and she's moderating high school quiz bowl matches at her New Boston home base. You think to yourself, there's no way that one woman has her hands in so many baskets. But she does, and numerous more baskets that you do and don't see. If your child has ever participated in an activity outside of school for the betterment of their academic or creative mind, the chances are remarkably high that Sharee Price was involved. She provides opportunities that individual school districts may not be able to fund or plan themselves. She has been an advocate, a mentor, and above all a friend to so many youths from all over Scioto County and beyond."