My name is Kelly Schmidgall.  My journey to become a teacher has been very exciting and rewarding.  I have grown from a student into an educator over the course of four years. 

              After graduating from Green Valley High School in 1986, I worked at a local insurance company for eight years.  During this time, I married a long time friend and high school classmate and we started thinking about beginning a family.  At the age of 26, we started a family and I made the decision to be a stay at home mom.  Eight years later my youngest child of two started kindergarten.  Now it was my time to find a job with the same schedule as my children.  At this time, I began working as a teachers aide at my children's school.  Working as a teacher's aide was a wonderful experience.  I enjoyed working with the students and making a difference in their lives.  Four years later, I made the choice to leave my job and pursue a degree in education.

              My senior year was spent as an intern in the Pekin Professional Development program with Pekin District 108 and Illinois State University.  This year long program gave me the opportunity to be totally immersed in learning and teaching throughout the school year.  I began the school year in a first grade classroom.  Then after the first semester I moved to a fifth grade classroom to explore a different age of students.  For my student teaching I returned to the same first grade classroom to finish my senior year.

              I graduated from Illinois State University on May 10, 2008.  I received a degree in Elementary Education with endorsements in Language Arts, Social Science, and Middle School.  The year long program with the PDS has prepared me for my first teaching experience.