Growing up right here in Flint, Michigan, Kaylee Lewis is in her first year as a math teacher at Kearsley High School. She became a teacher after she completed an apprenticeship at Kearsley through MI Talent Together last year. 

When walking into Ms. Lewis’s room, she has created a peaceful and calming environment for her classroom. She likes to keep lights low, with lamps all around her room.

While in high school, Ms. Lewis was a part of many teams. She did dance, cheerleading, participated in plays, she played in the band, but her favorite sports to play were softball and volleyball. She was also her class president. She also valued being around her family and she especially appreciates it now to think back on her favorite memories when she was growing up. 

When she was younger, Lewis had always wanted to be a teacher.

“I wanted to have a classroom to decorate and I liked the snow days. But I love it now!” Lewis said.

She enjoys being a math teacher, but her favorite topic to teach is algebra, which she finds interesting due to factoring and fractions. 

Ms. Lewis also loves the relationships she has with her students and the conversations. She always has many students throughout the day going up to her and telling her about their weekends or something exciting that happened to them. While she teaches she connects with her students a lot as well. She tells many stories or gives advice throughout the lesson, no matter what the lesson is. She truly wants her students to be successful in life.

Ms. Lewis is a very positive person. She says her friends would describe her as happy. Throughout the interview there wasn’t a time when Lewis wasn’t smiling or laughing. Even while she is teaching her class she is always full of energy and bright. 

In the future Ms. Lewis’s biggest goal in life is to be financially stable, “The only reason that is important is so that I can enjoy that life that I’m working hard to want, the life that I want to enjoy. And like not work my life away for. I want to be able to afford that life. And so that I can have all the fun with it.”

Outside of school, when Ms. Lewis is not working on curriculum, creating tests, and grading homework, she likes to go to the gym and do crafts. She also spends a lot of time with her kids. Along with being a teacher, Ms. Lewis is a mother of 2 sons. She thinks of being a mother as one of her biggest achievements. “Well being a mom and then doing this crazy hard program through here!”  

When giving advice to her kids, “Do literally anything to make you happy in life… You only live one single time.” 

Ms. Lewis tells any student who wants to become a teacher to, “…pick a great district with support, make sure work doesn’t own you… it can be a very consuming job. Usually teachers become teachers because they love students, they like to help people learn and they love the job. But if you let it consume you, you end up hating it.”

“I do things in increments,” Lewis said. “So I will immediately go home and I’ll do part of this and then I’ll put it away and then I’ll bring it back out after my kids don’t want to play for a minute. And so like I make it balanced like that. Because if I sit there and just do all of my work I get super burnt out and I’m like no, not doing it.”

Ms. Lewis is a hard working teacher who wishes only the best for everyone around her. Her radiant aura is expressed inside and outside of her classroom!