If you are ever by the woodshop, you will hear a saw cutting away at a project or the noises of a mallet striking a chisel. Mr.Kelley teaches woodworking, animation, and digital fabrication in only his 1st year of working at Jemicy. As I sat down, one of the first things we discussed was his transition to Jemicy as a new teacher. Mr.Kelley said that “it’s been going very well. Everyone has been great and straightforward.”
Similarly, Mr.Kelley discussed the staff and students and said, “I think of them very highly. I have my own learning differences that are very similar to the students here and I really rely on that sense a lot. I can also appreciate a lot of the empathy and support that the staff showed in their overall dedication to the students.” Mr.Kelley also explained how school was for him and what led him to be a teacher, telling me “when I was in high school, I was taking a lot of art classes at the time, and my first art teacher, mentor, and long-term friend and I took five or six classes with each other over the span of about two years. I had a lot of bad teachers, and I also went through a rough school system where I didn’t get the help I really needed, and I remember saying to myself I kind of wanted to be a teacher that I never really had.” This quote really brings out what led Mr.Kelley to teach and his inspiration.
Soon after, I asked Mr.Kelley about his teaching career before working at Jemicy. Mr.Kelley said, “I’m actually switching back to high-school teaching. I taught high school, middle school, and early college students at Towson university and worked with them through the community arts department. After that, I was an educator at AVAM (American Visionary Art Museum), where I taught people from kindergarten through [age] 80. AVAM is where the kinetic sculpture race is held and where Mr.Kelley worked for a little less than a year. I have taught many adults for the adult program, and I have always been teaching adults, but during covid, I transitioned to elementary-age students.”
Mr.Kelley started woodworking at a young age with his dad in their workshop at home. Mr.Kelley told me as he progressed as an art student “there was always something that I needed to make or have, and having woodworking as a skill always came in handy.” Mr.Kelley also told me, “I didn’t always use woodworking for projects, but craft skills like that always were good to have.” This shows that Mr.Kelly has always used woodworking as a skill even though he did not always need it.
Lastly, I asked Mr.Kelley what brought him to Jemicy, and Mr.Kelley replied “ I was looking to transition back to high-school teaching. I had heard about Jemicy through a few co-workers who had done their TAing (Teaching Assistant) at the lower school and as soon as I looked into it and saw the student body of the school it got me interested and I applied.”
Hopefully, Mr.Kelley will stay with the Jemicy school’s community and be our 3D design teacher for years to come.
MOOSE PRINTS 
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