One Virginia Beach teacher and military spouse has a serious reason to celebrate. Kelly Holbert, 33, was honored with the prestigious Educational Excellence Award from KinderCare Learning Companies for her dedication to supporting children achieve success in the classroom.
Out of 42,000 educators, 400 were nominated by their colleagues, including Holbert. She was among the 27 recipients of the award.
Holbert is the lead toddler teacher at the General Booth KinderCare in Virginia Beach and told WAVY that she was hired on at the General Booth KinderCare with no experience by Tiffany Dixon, Hampton Road KinderCare district leader, seven years ago.
“There was just something really special about her personality,” Dixon told WAVY. “I felt like what she had to offer these kids was something that we couldn’t say no to.”
When Holbert was hired, she was a stay-at-home mom with a 2-year-old and a deployed husband.
“I had our second daughter,” Holbert told WAVY. “Once he came home from deployment, my oldest was two and then the second one had just turned six months and I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I have no friends, I have no family, I have nothing here. It’s just me and these children in this apartment.’ So I was like, ‘I’ve got to do something’.”
And so she did. Holbert put her daughters in the same daycare where she became a teacher, and told WAVY it is one of the best decisions she’s ever made.
Getting emotional, she told the outlet, “We had just moved here because of the military and I had nothing – and then I took a chance working here and these women are my life. The parents that I’ve met have become the closest people to me. I really, really love these children and their parents.”
As part of her award, Holbert will receive a $3,500 cash prize and one year of professional development opportunities from KinderCare Learning Companies.