The Blue and White got the opportunity of interviewing English and Yearbook teacher Ms. Kelley. She’s been teaching for 12 years, with all of them spent at Apopka High School. Kelley discussed where she’s from, who she was before becoming a teacher, and other interesting facts about herself.

I am from Apopka. I was born in Orlando, and I went to school here. I moved away for a while to California, but when I had my daughter I came back home. All of my family lives here and I wanted her to be around her family, and also I was married at the time and the military was sending us somewhere else. So I’m from here, true Floridian.

I don’t have a lot of free time, because I have a kid, so her hobbies are my hobbies. She likes to play softball. She’s in SGA at her school, so any of the clubs and activities she does there. I guess yearbook stuff [would be my hobby] probably since that’s what I spend a lot of time on.

[I became the yearbook teacher when] the previous teacher was leaving. Mr. Heinz just asked if I’d like to do it because I was familiar with the staff and kind of some of the procedures. I like having something tangible at the end that you produce that people can see. It’s a physical representation of all your hard work. [To be a part of a yearbook] I would say you have to be very good about sticking to deadlines, and you can’t be shy about talking to people.

We asked Ms. Kelley about her future plans.

In 5 years I’m not old enough to retire, so I see myself probably still here teaching the same things hopefully, because I like what I teach. As far as professions, I wasn’t always a teacher. I seem to like this one the best, so p[I will] probably just stick with it. I was an HR manager for a construction company, actually I did that for two companies, and then I was an office manager in another construction company.

[What I wish more people knew about me is] that I’m not as grouchy as my face looks like sometimes.

[For hidden talents] I can juggle, and I can make balloon animals. When I was a senior here, actually, I took this class called “Projects” with Ms.Beechum that was her senior English class, and the last 9 weeks you had to learn to do something new. So I learned to make balloon animals. I can’t remember where I learned to juggle. I think I was just trying it one day, and I kept trying until I could do it, so I watched videos and I can do it now. I haven’t made any in a long time. The two that I probably remember the best are a dog and a turtle that you can wear like a little bracelet.

[I would describe myself as] kind of peculiar and a little odd…my snacking habits, like I’m picky about food. I mean I don’t venture out too much when it comes to different foods, but I try to try things, I just don’t usually like it. The list of foods that disgust me is very long. I don’t like lettuce [and] I don’t like cheese. Those are the two major ones. I like lasagna especially, for breakfast. I like soup, Wawa’s chicken noodle soup. If it’s in something or a little bit [of it] then I don’t mind it, but like a piece of cheese or cheese on a hamburger [mimics vomiting noises].

We asked Ms.Kelley what she would change about her life.

I wouldn’t change anything. I think it kind of led me to where I am. I mean I may not be happy with the way I did things, but I wouldn’t go back and change anything.

[If I could start anything sooner it’d] probably be teaching cause then I’d be a little further along in my career, maybe I could retire earlier, but it is what it is.