Teachers go âabove and beyondâ in pandemic year By Rebecca Alley and Dick Broom ELLSWORTH â When Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Hancock native, became the first woman elected to the job in December, she told The American how much of an impact her teachers had on her political career. âMrs. Johnson was my kindergarten teacher,â she remembered, adding that without the speech therapy she received as a young student at Hancock Grammar School, âI wouldnât be in politics today.â The support she received was monumental in ânormalâ times. Now, the call to appreciate teachers has reached an all-new level, especially after educators, parents and students navigated virtual learning from within the confines of shared home and workspaces. While many schools have welcomed students back to in-person learning for most of the week, the transition to learning alongside pandemic protocols has still taken a lot of work.