Kelsey Heath is the new 7-12 Special Education teacher at Wayne Community Schools and is also an assistant coach for junior high volleyball.
“I mostly work with life skills students, so a lot of my kids will stay until they’re like 21,” Heath said. “I’m working on that transition to adulthood, but I also have some junior high students as well, so it’s kind of a range.”
Heath said she wanted to be a teacher after seeing her parents working in education - her mother as a special education director and her father in various roles.
“I saw the difference that they were making in students' lives,” Heath said. “That was just cool to see, and I kind of wanted that for myself.”
Heath double majored in elementary and special education at Mount Marty University, which gives her the ability to teach a wide range of students.
When looking for special education jobs in the area, Heath saw one at Wayne Community Schools and got an interview.
“I didn't get the job I interviewed for, but then they said that this job was open, and they wanted me to take it,” Heath said. “I like the town, and I really liked Misty Beair, the special education director, and she kind of drew me to come here.”
“The staff here, especially my special education team, the other teachers, have been super welcoming,” Heath said. “It's really refreshing because I come from a town where that's not always the case. They just kind of brought me in and made me feel like I belong here, which has been really nice.”
Heath said she was excited to get to know her students so she would be able to help them reach their goals and see them succeed.
“Relationships are huge with students,” Heath said. “That’s the first things I focus on. If you don’t have a relationship with them, then it’s going to be hard to do anything else.”
Heath said her goal is getting her students to go outside of their comfort zone and reach their goals.
“I would want that for all my kids, to be able to live in the real world and interact with people,” Heath said.
Heath and her husband live in Hartington, where her husband teaches high school math at Cedar Catholic.
