PA’s orchestra teacher Alexander Kelly is this year’s schoolwide teacher of the year.
Kelly is in his fourth year of teaching at PA and teaches three levels of orchestra, freshman, concert, and chamber. He also teaches part-time at Thalia and Kingston Elementary for fifth-grade strings. Although he didn’t always love playing an instrument in his youth, he eventually fell in love with music and, soon later, the idea of teaching.
Kelly first dove into the world of music in fifth grade when he took up the violin. He shares that he is now grateful to his parents who persuaded him to continue playing year after year, although he didn’t want to continue. By the time he reached high school at Grassfield High in Chesapeake, he became inspired by his orchestra teacher there to pursue teaching. “It was around tenth grade when working with him at Grassfield that I was like ‘[teaching orchestra] is something I could do, and I would love to teach music to kids,’” says Kelly.
From there, Kelly attended George Mason University and taught in Fairfax for a year before returning to the Hampton Roads area. Kelly taught for five years at Kempsville Middle School, where he was also teacher of the year before moving to PA.
Kelly explains that much of how he teaches and how he runs his classroom comes from what he experienced during his time in high school. “I was a military kid, so I moved all over,” Kelly describes. “So when I moved back to Virginia, I felt like I didn’t know anything or anybody…and so I didn’t really have a large friend group in middle school and going into high school.”
But he soon found his people in orchestra, and from the community his teacher created. “No matter what was going on in my life or difficulties with friends or whatever, I knew that when I walked into that orchestra room…nothing else really mattered. It was my home away from home,” Kelly described. Since then, he has worked hard to create that same feeling for his students, no matter in the practice room or out on stage.
“In music, we have to be so vulnerable because every mistake is right there. We’re broadcasting our mistakes to everyone,” explains Kelly. “On a math test if you get something wrong, that’s just between you and your teacher, but we have to embrace those mistakes and we have to be vulnerable…so that’s really one of my passions, making [orchestra] a place where people want to be and where you can forget the weight of the world.”
Although he says he enjoys performing and conducting with his students in concerts, Kelly believes the “process” of preparing for a performance is more valuable than the actual product. “I know, and the students know that we could not possibly summarize everything that we’ve learned in three months in a 30-minute performance.” Overall, he says he values getting to watch his students grow in their skills, usually across many years. “In music and in the arts, we’ll have the same students for multiple years, and we’ll have the same families for multiple years,” Kelly describes. “So we get a really unique experience to develop incredible relationships…and I get to sit back and watch as everyone grows.”
Although Kelly explains he is incredibly grateful and honored to receive the recognition, he says he does feel a touch of “imposter syndrome,” being nominated among other outstanding teachers. “Being a musician, we are always keeping an eye towards what’s next and how to improve, so it was difficult to think that I could even be worthy of receiving this award at an incredible high school with such amazing teachers. But it’s been really rewarding and uplifting to see everyone be so supportive.”
According to senior Erica Lu, a now longtime student of Kelly’s, he deserves the recognition because “he goes above and beyond as a teacher…He cares about students outside of the classroom, and I believe that he makes a true impact on his students.”
Sophomore Alexander Pascas shares Lu’s opinion: “Mr. Kelly is an amazing person all around. He is nice to every single person he meets, and he always tries to help people when they’re feeling down. Obviously, playing an instrument is hard, so the fact that he is able to push us to make us be great and be successful is the main reason he deserves this award.”
