Major: Elementary and Early Childhood Education
Hometown: Erie, Pennsylvania
Scholarships: Erie Insurance Scholarship Award, PASSS Scholarship Award
Behrend from the beginning: I live just a few minutes from campus and basically grew up at Behrend where my mom works in the Office of Strategic Communications. Since I was a child, my family spent time on campus–walking, biking, sledding, and hiking in the gorge. In middle and high school, I participated in a lot of Youth Outreach programs, like Math Options, the STEAM Fair, Business Day, and College for Kids in the summer.
On choosing her major: I have a big family with a lot of younger cousins, and I have always enjoyed teaching them something new or helping them figure things out.
All the world’s a stage: I participated in theatre throughout middle and high school. I loved being on stage, and being a role model for those who were just starting out in the program. I realized teaching would be a similar experience, allowing me to share knowledge with young students while “performing” and presenting information.
Her proudest accomplishment at Behrend: My proudest accomplishment at Behrend was being the Immersive Administrator for the Virtual/Augmented Reality Edu classroom. Although the immersive classroom no longer exists as VAR Edu, I am very proud of the work I did there. I started as an attendant, finding programs and helping students get set up in headsets during integrations. I was promoted to Immersive Administrator where I practiced working with faculty and staff to find programs and design integrations in our classroom, as well as managing the attendants and daily work we had in the classroom. We started with only 200 integrations for the first semester. We finished with an astounding total of more than 1,000 integrations and a 59 percent increase from the semester before. I continue to work in the VAR Lab and have shifted my work to other projects such as creating a podcast for VAR Studios.
Campus involvement: I was involved for a year in the "Tone-Acious" a capella group, and part of a Behrend rock band called "Group Therapy."
Awards and recognitions: I have made the Dean’s List every semester since fall of 2021.
What makes her unique: I love to bake. Fancy cupcakes are my specialty, and I make them for all family events. I also love to sing and was in the Erie Philharmonic Chorus for a year. I was in every musical in high school, with my final and most fun role being Ursula in “Little Mermaid.”
What you might be surprised to know about her: I’m the lead singer in a Butler-based rock band that creates original music.
Her next top priority: My highest priority for the coming years is to find a job teaching in a community that supports its teachers and students. I’m also looking forward to getting my own house someday so that I can get my own dog to spoil.
Kelly plans to teach at a local elementary school and possibly attend graduate school for a master’s degree in an educational field.