Kellie Abbott

Humbleness, kindness, and gentleness immediately came to mind when I visited Valley High School's Principal, Kellie Abbott. I am sure that any of the more than eight hundred students attending the school would describe her the same way.

Kellie no longer has to dream of a job that allows her to do the things she loves and get paid for them; she believes she has "the coolest job." Her favorite part of the day is finding ways to motivate the students and helping them build better opinions of themselves. Ironically, that can be her greatest challenge as well. She wants the students to be better than just "OK," she wants them to strive to do their best and be excellent.

Ms. Abbott aims to communicate with the kids in ways they understand, and she is always honest with them. She will be up front if they need to improve their situation or if they are doing a great job. Kellie also makes great effort to know as many of the students' names as she can. By using their names when she speaks to them, she builds relationships, respect, and influences them in a positive way.

"Education is the way to save the world," Kellie believes. She described the learning and educating process in terms of the domino effect; everything the children are taught each day will get passed onto others in their life, and it continues on and on to even more people.

When Kellie was growing up, there was a steady stream of students visiting her house because her dad was a history teacher and guidance counselor for Deer Lakes School District. This early, first-hand experience to educating planted in her a life-long "joy of learning."

After graduating from Freeport Area High School in 1991, Kellie immediately went on to College at Notre Dame. She graduated from there in 1995 and then continued on to do graduate work at Pitt in the evenings while she taught. Prior to coming to Valley High School, Kellie taught English for ninth and tenth graders at Seneca Valley High School in Harmony, Pennsylvania (North of Pittsburgh).

This is Kellie's third year in the New Kensington-Arnold School District. She spent her first year and a half as Assistant Principal of Valley High School, and when a sudden and tragic accident took the life of Valley's Principal, Ned Hagel, she moved up to fill his position. That makes this year her first full school year as principal.

This year Ms. Abbott's focus will be to encourage a higher accountability on the part of faculty and students for student achievement. She also wants to make the students aware of their responsibility to the community. She will push the fact that in everything they do, the students represent themselves, the school, and the community.

Recently, Kellie has noticed an increase of student involvement in extra-curricular activities and is excited at the prospect of promoting these activities even more among the students. She believes that participation in extra-curricular activities encourages more acceptable social behavior and helps keep youth from the temptation of trouble.

This is just a glimpse of the things Kellie hopes to accomplish during her career. Ms. Abbott has a vision for the future of the school and has many ideas to improve the school for students, faculty, and the community.

Valley High School's Web Site: http://nkasd.wiu.k12.pa.us/vhs/