- December 28, 2024
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Before Kelli Chehaitli was a teacher, she was a volunteering parent at Tomoka Elementary School, where her daughters attended.
As they went on to middle school, Chehaitli knew she wanted to re-enter the workforce, and knew she wanted her work to be purposeful, she said in a statement to the Observer.
“In my opinion, nothing seemed more meaningful than to teach,” Chehaitli said. “I knew it would give me the chance to pay forward the gift of education that had been given to my own daughters by so many stellar teachers right here in our Volusia County public schools. I wanted to be part of that.”
Now in her 10th year of teaching, Chehaitli teaches math and science to fifth grade gifted students at Tomoka Elementary, where she was named this year’s Teacher of the Year. She is also one of five teachers named as a finalist for the district’s 2026 Teacher of the Year.
Teaching comes with the responsibility of nurturing the educational and social emotional needs for other’s children, which makes it a challenging profession, Chehaitli said.
“Parents, families and children trust in me to provide the tools needed for success in secondary and post-secondary education and in life,” Chehaitlli said. “I stay motivated by remembering that each day I’ve been gifted the opportunity to contribute to the future of humanity.”
But her favorite thing about being a teacher, she said, is that she gets to work with children every day.
“They teach me so much, they are wise beyond their years, and they keep me thoroughly entertained!” she said.
In her classroom, she displays the words of her college microbiology professor, Dr. Ram Nayar: “Think positive always.”
When Chehaitli was his student, he wrote an exam question in which he referred to her as “Dr. Kelli Chehaitli.” That made her realize that he believed her to be a good student — and a smart one at that.
“That was a profound feeling and single-handedly the most influential factor on my approach to teaching,” Chehaitli said. “I strive to build my students’ educational esteems in similar ways that Dr. Nayar once built mine. That simple exam question changed my personal view of myself and my life’s trajectory. I hope that I can do the same for my students, particularly those who have never felt as though they were ‘smart’ enough to succeed in school.”
