A Missouri teacher who went from being kicked out of middle school to being named teacher of the year is sharing her advice for students and fellow teachers as she and other educators across the country are being recognized during Teacher Appreciation Week.
"I struggled through education and not because I was not adequate, not because I wasn't smart or anything like that, but because that wasn't always my focus, and I didn't always know my potential," Kayla McClellan told ABC News. "Along the way, I had some teachers and some professors at college that really snatched me up and [were] like, 'You're going to get yourself together, and you are going to do this.'"
McClellan, now 32, has come a long way since she said she was expelled due to poor grades and behavioral issues as an eighth grade student at Lincoln Middle School in Kansas City, Missouri.
McClellan said she later enrolled at another charter school to finish middle school and went on to attend high school and college, where she majored in history. She said her mother honed in on her education and told her it would be her last chance to get her act together.
McClellan also said her teachers encouraged and supported her along the way, even when she didn't know what she wanted to do.
After college, McClellan said she joined Teach for America, an organization that recruits and develops teachers.
"My sister did Teach for America in Atlanta, and it really set her on a great trajectory. She learned a lot. And so, I followed in her footsteps and it ended up working out for me," she explained.
In a full-circle moment, McClellan also returned in 2018 to teach at Lincoln Middle School, the same school from which she had been expelled years earlier. While there, she taught a college prep course and American history to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.
"I had the opportunity to come back home to Kansas City, and I wanted to be that [mentor] for somebody else," McClellan said.
McClellan was named the 2022 Kansas City Public Schools Teacher of the Year while she was teaching at Lincoln Middle School. The following year, she was also recognized with the Norma Hunt Super Bowl Champion of Education award.
Today, she is mentoring high schoolers as the first athletic director at Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in Kansas City and said her education career is just being written.
"I learned that I could be an academic on top of all the other things that I was. I didn't [see] myself there at first, but eventually I started to notice, like, this is my jam. Education is my space. Kids are my space," McClellan said of her journey so far.
Her advice to students and fellow teachers now is to stay open-minded.
"As a kid, as an adult, if you are willing and open to learning, you will be OK," McClellan said. "If you can accept feedback, if you can learn to say sorry, if you can learn to listen, if you can learn how to interact with other people, if you are willing to learn, you will do well."
Lincoln College Preparatory Academy Principal Shanelle Smith told ABC News it's clear McClellan is where she's meant to be.
"Kayla is the kind of teacher students truly look up to," Smith said. "...Her own journey from student to educator is a powerful story of grit and perseverance, and she embodies the message she gives her students every day: that with hard work, belief, and support, anything is possible."
