Labors of State
By Connie Kachel White
On Sept. 11, 2024, from a pool of more than 2 million U.S. civilian federal workers, this Shocker alumna was recognized as one of the three best for her “labors of state.”
Shannon Rebolledo ’01/02, who’s shown at right in the photo here alongside fellow U.S. Department of Labor officials Nancy Alcantara and Justin Uphold, was awarded a Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., for her role in investigating child-labor abuses in meatpacking plants across eight states. Since that honor, and after two decades with the labor department, Rebolledo has shifted her work focus to new shores of activity. In January, she became a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State. Her first base of operations is the dual-island Caribbean nation Trinidad and Tobago.
The island setting is a far cry from her home territory.
Shannon Rebolledo’s ties to Wichita State go well beyond the undergraduate and graduate degrees in Spanish and Spanish lit she holds from the university. She also hails from a family chock-full of Shockers.
First off, she’s married to a Shocker, Juan Rebolledo ’14, originally from Colombia
who, before joining her in Trinidad and Tobago, was a Wichita Police Department public information officer. Her maternal grandfather Patric Rowley ’50 was a University of Wichita graduate and a lifelong supporter of the university. Her mother Roslyn “Roz” Hutchinson ’94, stepfather Tom Hutchinson ’70 and late aunt Elizabeth Rowley ’98, are all Shocker alumni, while her uncle, John Hutchinson, spent most of his academic career at Wichita State, including serving as provost. And Max, the third of the Rebolledos’ four children, now in his senior year of high school and seriously considering attending WSU, is on track to be the next Shocker in the family.
“We were neighbors of now-President Muma when Shannon was young. As a young teen, she spent time on campus with me while I was pursuing my journalism degree,” says Roz Hutchinson, a former spokesperson for Ascension Via Christi who’s now back on campus as a project coordinator at WSU’s Health, Outreach, Prevention and Education Services. She adds, “I like to think that contributed in part to her later academic success and desire for a career that would allow her to make a meaningful difference in the world.”
Rebolledo certainly has made a difference in the world, including for the 102 children – from 13 to 17 years of age – who were found to be illegally employed in hazardous jobs at 13 meat-processing facilities in eight states, including Kansas. At the time of the 2022-2023 investigation, Rebolledo was some 17 years into her work with the Department of Labor and serving as regional enforcement coordinator for a 10 state region out of the Chicago office. “I started as a wage hour investigator back in 2005,” Rebolledo says. “But I hadn’t really ever planned on going to work for the federal government — early on, I just wanted to play basketball.” She was on the varsity team at Kapaun Mount Carmel and then on scholarship to the University of St. Mary in Leavenworth for a year before an injury put a stop to her competitive playing days. She transferred to Wichita State with the idea of studying to become a teacher so she could coach basketball.
Already well familiar with on-campus life at WSU, Rebolledo says that, academically, she “found a home in the Spanish department” and set her career course for becoming a high school Spanish teacher. After completing her undergraduate degree and a transition to teaching program, she went on to earn a master’s degree while working as a graduate teaching assistant and teaching at Bishop Carroll High School. Funny thing was, she says with a laugh, she discovered she didn’t really want to teach high school.
She and her husband moved to Lubbock, Texas, where she took up graduate studies at Texas Tech. After she had their first child, the couple began considering another move, and in 2004, when she was pregnant with their second child, the Rebolledos returned to Wichita. She was a stay-at-home mom for about six months before getting the urge to explore non-teaching career opportunities. “I got on a federal job site and saw a posting for a Spanish-speaking investigator with the Department of Labor,” she says
She was five months pregnant when she interviewed for and got the job. She was an investigator in the labor department’s Wichita office for five years before becoming the assistant district director, overseeing Kansas and the western half of Missouri. She also worked in the time to coach basketball at Kapaun. In July 2021, she was named regional enforcement coordinator for the Chicago office, responsible for a 10-state area. It was in this role that she was recognized with the Service to America Medal.
“Shannon has always approached every aspect of her life with high energy, enthusiasm and determination, so her success in the realm of public service comes as no surprise to me,” Hutchinson says.
It was this past January that Rebolledo charted a new course. After 19 years and nine months with the Department of Labor, she took up duties as a foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department. This past summer, she and her husband and two of their children relocated to Trinidad and Tobago. “We are settling in nicely — getting to know the island and enjoying the beaches, hiking and exploring the markets and food. We love doubles and bake and shark — two local dishes,” she says. “I miss my family and friends, of course, and my favorite local spots like Cafe Maurice, Saigon and The Hopping Gnome — and I miss my Kapaun basketball girls.
“Oh, one more thing. I miss Kansas steaks — so, so much!”
