Post Details

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - WITN is proud to highlight the incredible educators who inspire our students across the East, all thanks to your nominations. This week, we’d like you to meet Collin Kelley.

Collin is an art teacher at Wallace-Rose Hill High School in Duplin County.

Collin has been teaching for eight years and says his passion for art took shape when he was young, thanks to a very special person.

His mother, Wendy, taught art classes for thirty years at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School. Collin says his mother is not only his biggest inspiration to become a better artist, but also to become a better teacher.

Collin says he knew he wanted to be an art teacher while he was a student at Wallace-Rose Hill.

After graduating from UNCW in 2019, Collin’s mother retired and passed the torch to him.

Collin says being an art teacher has shown him so much about the act of granting knowledge to future generations about the joys of art.

He says he’s so proud of his students, who have worked hard to win awards, from T-shirt design competitions to having their work displayed at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington.

Collin says he feels honored to be a part of his students’ lives and to help them achieve their goals and dreams in the beautiful world of art.

To nominate your favorite educator for WITN’s Teacher of the Week, please email TOTW@witn.com. Please share their name, school and why you believe they deserve this recognition.

Click here to watch the full interview.

By Gigi Barnett