An instructional specialist in Charles County Public Schools’ office of special education has become the first woman in the county to receive the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference’s highest honor for former coaches and athletic administrators.
Elisabeth Shook received the Richard F. O’Donnell Lifetime Achievement Award, SMAC’s top recognition for people who have shaped athletics across the conference over the course of a career. The award is named for Richard Francis O’Donnell, a longtime boys basketball coach and student activities director at Chopticon High School who also served as SMAC president before he died in October 2011 at age 60. O’Donnell coached basketball at Chopticon until retiring in June 2008, capping a career that also included teaching U.S. history and holding graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University.
Shook said the recognition carried particular weight because of who had received it before her. “I have never done this work for recognition, so to be honored in this way is something I truly appreciate,” she said. “The people who have been awarded this in the past were my mentors and the people who taught me how to be a coach and be a leader.”
Shook’s path to the award began in the classroom. She started her CCPS career as a special education teacher at Thomas Stone High School, later moving to Milton M. Somers Middle School and then to Westlake High School before taking her current role as an instructional specialist at the Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building. Alongside her classroom work, she built a long coaching résumé that spanned cross country and both indoor and outdoor track at Stone and Westlake, along with directing the poms and dance team at Stone. She has served as the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s state director for indoor and outdoor track and field and remains a certified official for cross country and track.
Shook’s tenure leading the Westlake track and field program produced athletes who went on to compete at the collegiate and international level, including Christina Manning Clemons, a two-time first-team All-American at Ohio State, and Kiara Parker, who earned first-team All-American honors at the University of Arkansas after transferring from another high school program. Shook has credited both athletes’ work ethic for their success, and the Westlake program has continued using footage of their races to motivate current athletes before practice. Her coaching accomplishments earned her SMAC Coach of the Year honors more than a dozen times and recognition from The Washington Post as an All-Met Coach of the Year.
Shook also spent more than two decades working alongside longtime Westlake football coach and athletic director Dominic Zaccarelli, who died in January 2021 after leading the Wolverines to a Class 3A state title in 2008 and remaining involved in Charles County and SMAC athletics for years afterward. Colleagues have pointed to that kind of sustained, behind-the-scenes involvement across the conference as part of what set Shook apart in a field historically dominated by men.
Shook said her years coaching directly inform her current role supporting teachers across the district’s special education programs. “I wanted to have a bigger impact beyond my own classroom,” she said. “As a special education teacher, I found myself helping other teachers with IEPs, problem-solving difficult situations and making sure students were receiving the supports they needed.” She said the transition felt natural. “Helping teachers grow, build confidence and find solutions is where my passion lies. What I enjoy most is that every day feels like coaching.”
Larry Johnson, CCPS director of special education, said Shook has become someone colleagues rely on to work through difficult situations, even outside normal business hours. “Beth is dedicated, dependable and always willing to help — even when complex challenges arise outside regular working hours,” he said. “She thoughtfully works through problems, follows through on commitments and is someone I trust and depend on to get the job done.”
Johnson also credited Shook with shaping the culture of the department more broadly, saying she consistently pushes colleagues to build a workplace where every employee feels supported. Shook said that goal has carried through everything she has done in education, from her first classroom to her current administrative role. “My goal is always to build people’s capacity so they can be successful,” she said. “When teachers are supported and confident, students benefit — and that’s what motivates me every day.”
