Kelly McCall: Not Your Average Office Assistant
By Florangela Davila
Tags: Des Moines Elementary School, Hope, Kids, Office Assistant, Students
Category: education
Multimedia Story by: Brynn Cellan. Click here to view.
Text by Robert Devenuti
A total of 437 students attend Des Moines Elementary School.
“Kids, kids, they’re where the hope and the joy are in life.”
Kelly McCall is a teacher, a tracker, a nurse, a gatekeeper, and a guardian for the 435 children whose come in and out of Des Moines Elementary five days a week. On her business card she is labeled “Office Assistant,” a term usually used for those who answer phones, Xeroxes, and files, but in reality, she does so much more. There are 18 elementary schools in the Highline School District, but only one Des Moines Elementary from which McCall hails.
McCall knows her kids. She keeps track of where they are and how they are doing, provides them with comfort and medicine, and genuinely cares about their overall well being. Like any mother hen, she is protective, doting, and delighted by the children entrusted to her from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday. In McCall’s own words “Children are where the hope and joy are in life.”
The mission statement of Des Moines Elementary School is: “I am a learner. I am a teacher. We are all successful at Des Moines Elementary School.” McCall is a true believer of that mission and a woman who personifies it every day doing a job that is so much more than the title offers.
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Love the picture Brynn! It works so well with your story, and has such great artistic qualities!