The Always-Ready Mr. Kelley

Mr. Kelley is one of those people who just seems to have more hours in the day, than everyone else. He teaches AP Lang, Mythology, and two theater periods. Additionally, he runs the Freshman Class Council and Forensics Team and directed last month’s children’s show, Dr. Experimentor and the League of Evil. For as many as he chooses intentionally, there is an equal number of roles Mr. Kelley stumbles into. When the school realized there was no one to run the Freshman Class Council, he stepped up, and when Ms. Saxton got into a car crash and couldn’t direct the show he was there as well. The result is an impossibly busy man, who needs a light shed on the sheer amount of things he gets done in a day, in and out of school.

He gets to school at about 6:30 in the morning. From there he makes sure his lesson plans are okay and grades any work still outstanding. He’s able to save time on the more traditional parts of teaching because he’s “been teaching for 18, 19 years, so making lessons usually doesn’t take a ton of time.” After the school day ends, he rehearses with the Forensics team. The forensics club is one where people pick things they want to read aloud and every month or two they go to a tournament with other schools where individual students are judged on how well they read. Mr.Kelley describes it as essentially a nicer debate club, which is why he chose to start sponsoring them and stopped sponsoring debate.

The next part of his day, when directing Dr. Experimentor, was rehearsals which would usually go from the end of the school day to 4:30 or 5:00. It is here where Mr.Kelley’s passion mainly resides. When he first came to the school, he directed shows during the summer but ever since having his kids he stopped. Making “Dr.Experimentor the first time [he’d] directed anything in almost a decade”. He greatly enjoyed the chance to reconnect with one of his major passions. Even if his rusty-ness as a director made some of the preparation a bit of a mess he still thinks the show was a hit. “It just kind of came together, which is more about the students than me.”

After that, he picks up one of his kids from school and hangs out with them for a while before helping his wife with dinner or the dishes. This should be when his day slows down, but Mr. Kelley, ever allergic to standing still, also co-runs a YouTube channel. There he reviews board games which he usually does from around 6-8 PM. He also designs his own board games on the side with a friend of his under their design studio MVP Boardgames. They’ve “been designing games off and on for like 12 years. [They’ve] had four published and [they’re] working on [their] fifth one right now.” Finally, from 9-11, he edits the videos he records and responds to any comments on the channel or its discord.

It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin but Mr.Kelley loves it. He says the students are what makes it enjoyable. Seeing what weird things people bring to read in Forensics or what event the Freshman Class wants to have next is the highlight of his day. “Whether its the theater show or the mythology class […] even though some days are stressful, I’m still entertained with the students I’m working with every day, which kind of keeps it fresh. Even after 20 years.”