ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — A+ Teacher Kelli Chehaitli says she was inspired to become a teacher after volunteering at her daughter’s kindergarten class. She said she learned then that she knew teaching was her calling.

Chehaitli works hard to make sure no student slips through the cracks.

"I would help students learn how to read, and that became very meaningful for me because I grew up a struggling reader," she said. "I still, as an adult, have found strategies to work around that."

Chehaitli teaches fifth graders now and often reminds them: “Math and science are cousins forever and ever and always."

She teaches in the gifted program at Tomoka Elementary School in Ormond Beach and likes to create hands-on activities that make learning challenging but fun.

"In a class like this, we teach many different concepts all at once," Chehaitl said. "So, I do hope they have fun and think it's fun and I certainly do." 

She says that was not always the case when she was a child.

"I struggled," Chehaitl said. "I grew up struggling in school, which is one of the reasons I'm passionate about teaching."

It’s why she loves seeing her students engaged in the classroom.

"We didn't have the help and the support systems that I can give these students now, and we didn't have kind of this exploratory learning situation where the students can dig into a topic and learn on their own and discover," Chehaitl said. "We just had to sit at our desks and use paper and pencil and a book. So learning in the way that we're learning these days with these students is very hands-on and really brings those concepts to life."

She said there is a takeaway that she wants her students to never forget.

"I just want them to know there's no challenge that they're going to be faced with that they can't conquer," Chehaitl said.