Class Act Teacher of the Month: Gautier High’s Keisha Keys

School’s out for summer, but before students and teachers turned out the lights on the 2022-2023 school year, Grant Chighizola caught up with our teacher of the month, who is dedicated to teach her students at Gautier High skills they can apply to the real world.

Take one step inside Keisha Keys’ classroom and instead of pencils and notebooks, you’ll see washers, dryers, and ovens. “It’s child development, family dynamics, nutrition and wellness, and then resource management, which is a financial literacy course.”

The family and consumer science teacher has spent her six years in education making sure her students navigate those high school days as smoothly as possible. “You’ve got to remember they’re still kids, but they’re progressing in life and becoming adults, so you’ve got to find the perfect balance and trying to teach them in between phases of life.

While these are serious subjects “As far as like cooking or getting a baby doll to carry around school to practice being a parent, so just that alone I get kids to sign up.”

As she looks forward to year seven of her career and beyond, as she looks to inspire more young minds, in the classroom and on the court. “I’ve just been nominated as athletic coordinator for next season, so I think beyond teaching I might look into the admin side of possibly becoming an athletic director one day.”