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Caribbean Connections
Posted on Jan 27, 2026
Carol Shoy, Fort Valley State University alumna and assistant director for the University of the Virgin Islands Family and Consumer Sciences Department, poses with students and community members after a cooking class.
White sand beaches, palm trees and roughly 1,400 miles of sea separate the tropical landscape of U.S. Virgin Island St. Thomas from the pine trees, peach fields and pecan orchards of Fort Valley, Georgia.
Carol Shoy, a Fort Valley State University (FVSU) alumna, was willing to leave the Caribbean comfort she’d known her whole life for the unknown countryside. The exchange was the opportunity to earn a degree in a discipline she had grown to love.
“I wanted to get away from the Virgin Islands,” Shoy said, referencing her thoughts as a teenager.
In high school, she developed an interest in home economics education, now called family and consumer sciences.
“I had two wonderful high school teachers who always motivated me to pursue home economics education,” Shoy said.
From her research, Shoy noticed many of the colleges that offered home economics as a major were located in the deep South. With Georgia on her mind, Shoy sets her sights to pursue her passion.
“I applied to Savannah State, Georgia State and Fort Valley,” she said. Fort Valley was the first school to respond.
Not knowing anyone in Georgia, at 19, Shoy decided to quit her job working for the Department of Health and Family Planning and leave St. Thomas. She shared her desires of majoring in home economics with her mother.
“She thought I was crazy. In the Virgin Islands, most parents think every child should know how to cook, how to sew and how to take care of children. She did not see it as a career,” Shoy said. But a few conversations with her high school teachers and an acceptance letter persuaded her to go for it.
When she arrived on campus Shoy made many friends. Many of the students grew fond of her accent and skills in sewing and cooking. She would often travel to their hometowns on weekends, visiting their families in different parts of Georgia such as Atlanta, Columbus and Griffin. She also became acquainted with her professors, their teaching style and academic demands.
“They were detailed and required a lot. I’m proud to say they were my professors,” Shoy said, recalling Dorothy Conteh, Ph.D., Linda Johnson, Ph.D., and Sharon Hunt.
Shoy said she took pride in Fort Valley because in the Virgin Islands, FVSU’S College of Agriculture had a strong reputation for preparing graduates for careers in education and agriculture.
As a student, she was able to explore multiple concentrations under family and consumer sciences. This included family and child development, food and nutrition and clothing and textiles.
Likewise, Shoy was introduced to Cooperative Extension and learned about the outreach mission of Land-grant Universities.
“One of the things that I loved about Fort Valley was they made sure we interacted with Extension agents. It was part of the curriculum. It was a requirement. I was always across the street interacting with the Extension agents because that’s what I wanted to do,” Shoy said.
Although she initially desired a career in Cooperative Extension, Shoy’s career began in education. After graduating with her degree in home economics education in 1990, she moved back to St. Thomas.
Her high school teacher learned she had returned to the island after earning her degree and convinced her to apply to the Department of Education. Shoy applied and was selected for an interview.
Soon after, she received a phone call. She was selected to teach home economics at her high school. For 26 years, Shoy taught her passion at two high schools on the island.
Her boss at her first job was impressed by her knowledge She recalled how Conteh taught her how to develop a lesson plan which she implemented in her classroom. The training was memorable.
“Dr. Conteh made me do this lesson plan over 20 times and she told me one day, ‘I don't care if you have to do it over 21 times. If it's not correct, you're going to do it over,’’’ she said.
At the time, Shoy didn’t see it, but she said it was one of the greatest teaching moments she had experienced.
Now at the age of 60, the St. Thomas native noted her joy comes from seeing her students find their passion and pursue it.
Shoy instructs students by teaching them recipes.
“My biggest accomplishment is seeing students who go away, and they major in agriculture, or they major in an area that is associated with family and consumer sciences. When they come back home and say, ‘Because of you, I went, and I majored in culinary arts. Because of you, I'm now an educator. You were instrumental in me going into the fashion world.’ That's my biggest accomplishment, making sure that my students are influenced and I had something to do with the career choices, or the field that they went into,” Shoy said.
With more than two decades of teaching experience, Shoy coupled that experience with a graduate degree in educational administration from the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI). Although she left the classroom, she did not leave the family and consumer sciences profession.
She was able to work in food in nutrition as a specialist for the St. Thomas School Food Authority for two years. After her time with the School Food Authority, she decided to teach adult education. After teaching adult education, she applied to UVI Extension.
At UVI Extension, Shoy has been able to serve in multiple roles to include program leader for UVI Family and Consumer Sciences and 4-H. In 2024, she became assistant director of the Family and Consumer Sciences Program. Furthermore, she is also a doctoral candidate in the UVI Educational Leadership Program.
This educational journey has inspired her daughter as well.
“I wanted to motivate my daughter to get her PhD. She is also in the program with me here at the University of the Virgin Islands, so it's going to be a mother and daughter graduation. So that's something that we're looking forward to,” Shoy said excitedly.
Reflecting on her accomplishments and journey she attributes much of it to her undergraduate experience.
“I'm really proud to be a Fort Valley State graduate. It's one of the best decisions I've made throughout not only my career, but my life,” Shoy said.
For more information about Fort Valley State University’s Family and Consumer Sciences Department visit, https://bit.ly/4oSTI4B.
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- FVSU Agriculture College
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