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09/07/2022 08:30 AMWhen Emily Kelsey was younger, she wasn’t interested in was teaching.
“It’s kind of funny. I didn’t want to be a teacher because my mother was one, and I saw how hard she worked,” recalls Emily. The young Emily might be shocked to learn that she was recently named Teacher of the Year by Clinton Public Schools.
Emily is now starting her 16th year in Clinton. When she found out she would be named Teacher of the Year she says she was proud.
“It was exciting to win. It was nice to be recognized and acknowledged for all the hard work,” Emily says.
Emily works as a media specialist and as a coordinator for the districts gifted and talented students.
“I make sure those kids have what they need and make sure they’re getting challenged,” Emily says of the gifted and talented program kids. “I meet with them and make sure they’re doing well mentally as well.”
As part of her jobs, Emily is actually in all three schools in the district: Joel School with the elementary school students, Jared Eliot with the middle schoolers, and The Morgan School with the high school students. Some days that can mean teaching 8th graders a research class in the morning at Eliot, then heading to Joel to teach kindergartners, then heading back to Eliot in the afternoon.
“It’s definitely a different mindset to go from 8th graders to teaching kindergarten 20 minutes later,” Emily says with a laugh. “But the 8th graders like the stories I have of the funny things the kindergarten students say and do, and I actually started as a kindergarten teacher in the classroom, so that’s like going back to basics for me,” says Emily.
Of course, the end of the school day doesn’t mean Emily is done teaching. She also volunteers as a club adviser for several different extracurriculars.
“I was at Pierson for most of my time in Clinton, and I did a lot of coordinating there trying to find kids matches for their interests,” says Emily. Additionally, Emily is a proud performer in every musical that Eliot puts on, appearing in every production.
Teaching was not something that Emily was immediately interested in. While her mother was a teacher, her grandmother was a nurse. For a time, Emily thought her ambitions may lay there.
“It just wasn’t my calling. I was drawn to working with kids either babysitting or summer camps, and I kept getting drawn back,” says Emily. “I always joke that my first student was actually my younger sister because I would go to kindergarten then come home and teach her the lesson I had learned earlier that day.”
Initially, Emily taught kindergarten, third, and fourth grades for several years in West Haven, where she had grown up.
“It was kind of weird being back in the schools I went to and teaching with some of the teachers that had taught me,” Emily says. “I do miss having my own little tribe of kids that other teachers borrow for and hour or two, but I don’t miss teaching every subject every day.”
Eventually, West Haven and Clinton schools started a buddy program where the schools would communicate via video conferencing technology.
“This was in the late 90s, early 2000s before Skype was really a thing, so it was very cutting edge which I liked. I got to know Clinton and some of the teachers a little bit by doing that program,” Emily explains
Knowing she wasn’t going to be in the classroom forever, Emily says she began taking classes to get her library media certification. Eventually her new friends in Clinton alerted her to an opening in Clinton, where she applied and was soon hired.
“My favorite part of teaching is definitely the interaction with the kids. Sharing experiences together. Positive relationships are really important to me,” says Emily.
In her spare time, Emily can be found doing drafts like knitting and crocheting as well as learning calligraphy. As one might expect Emily says she’s also a big reader, but she and her family are also avid movie buffs.
“I like getting lost in a story no matter where,” says Emily. “I also like spending time with family, that’s most important to me.”
Asked for her favorite thing about Clinton, Emily replies, “The community is very welcoming. Not every small town is but Clinton is. Once you’re in you’re in. That goes for the people I work with as well.”