Kenzie Kelly

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and what were you doing before arriving at THINK Global School?

My name is Kenzie, I was born in Plymouth, MA, but I have lived in 5 states and eight cities in the USA, including New Hampshire, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Illinois. I have lived the past four years in Quito, Ecuador, where I was a science teacher and eventually the Assistant Principal at an international school.

2. What do you love most about teaching?

I live for when kids ask questions and show curiosity for what they are learning. I love when they connect their learning to life and have that moment of epiphany about a new connection in the world. I also love conversations with students about the future, where they realize their potential to make a change in the world.

3. What aspects of THINK Global School’s educational model do you find most appealing?

I grew up with a revolutionary science teacher who did Project Based Learning before it was cool. I can say firsthand that these projects didn’t just teach the materials usually found in a textbook. This learning method is what drove me as a student to fall in love with science. I think the options for student independence and the PBL-based model is such an appealing way to learn.

4. If you could make one major change to global education, what would it be?

I would love global education to shake up the model, much like THINK Global school does. I would love to see global education become relevant and focused on building the future problem solvers the world needs.

5. Describe your teaching style or philosophy. Do you have any unique teaching methods you use to keep students engaged?

I love to make sure I show students aspects of the changing world around them. I grew up on the cusp of the technology revolution, always living with a computer, but not with a cellphone. I love to balance engagement through human contact (put away the tech) and integrate coding or other fun technologies into lessons to engage in a more 21st-century way. My students use their hands to build things physically and their minds to build things virtually.

6. Which of our core values do you feel you most embody, and why?

I think I demonstrate Meraki and Qiú Zhi Yù in my daily life. I have been told that I can be intense, but I like to say passionate. I love to be creative, curious, and inventive. I think the world needs people who can think of new ways to solve problems, although I hope that I also embody empathy and Ubuntu because I feel they are the balance needed to keep your Meraki and Qiú Zhi Yù in check.

7. Tell us about your favorite teaching experience pre-TGS

My favorite experiences have always been student projects. In Chicago, we did a project to create a model of the airbag using stoichiometry and minimizing waste. Students were so stubbornly passionate about figuring it out that I could never get them to go to their next class. In Quito, my students needed to make a boat run on a renewable energy source, my room was a mess, and we had a few cut fingers in the process, but watching their success, I was filled with pride.

8. What is your most memorable travel experience thus far?

It has been a blast to discover South America, especially after mastering the language. From hiking the Inca Trail to exploring the Salt Flats to seeing penguins in the Southern tip of Argentina, to many wildlife encounters in the Galapagos and Amazon, to the cenotes in Mexico, getting to see Latin America with the ability to communicate and learn first-hand from the people I encountered has been the most memorable experience of my life.

9. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Austria has been on my list since I was ten years old, when I mistakenly picked Austria for a country product thinking it was Australia (I wanted to do my project on the Great Barrier Reef). I was disappointed at first until I realized it was the setting of Sound of Music. My 10-year-old self saw a beautiful blue, snow-capped picture of Salzburg. Ever since, it has been my computer’s screensaver, with the goal of one day taking my own picture to replace the google image. I also think it would be great to run through the hills singing Sound of Music.

10. What is your favorite book, and why?

I probably have to go with Harry Potter. I am dyslexic and don’t particularly enjoy reading, but reading Harry Potter took me on an all-consuming adventure. My mother read the first book to me and my brother out loud and she lost her voice because we wouldn’t let her stop.