Kerri Bordelon

SHE IS

Helping children establish the foundation on which they will base

their future education.

NOT QUITE WORK

For the last three years, Kerri Bordelon, a Costa Mesa resident,

has worked as a kindergarten teacher at California Elementary School

in Costa Mesa.

Only she has never seen it as work.

“I would do it even if I didn’t get paid,” she said. “It’s been

something I’ve wanted to do since I was three.”

Since Bordelon comes from an entire family of teachers, it wasn’t

a surprise that she found herself drawn toward a career in education.

How she wanted to pursue her teaching drive was another story.

THE FIRST TEACHER

Beginning her teaching career six years ago, Bordelon sought

kindergarten as a more professionally challenging avenue.

“I’m very interested in early childhood development,” she said. “I

just thought it would be more challenging for me ... being their

first experience with a teacher.”

She was right.

Although her teaching credentials qualify her to teach

kindergarten through eighth-grade students, Bordelon has found that

it’s the on-the-job training that has enabled her to transition from

fourth- and second-grade students to kindergartners.

After her first day in a kindergarten classroom she quickly began

to tailor her lesson plans to better suit students with a five-minute

attention span and had to get used to her new role as both teacher

and mother to 20 boys and girls averaging five years of age.

“It’s non-stop from the minute I get here to the minute I go ...

it’s very physically demanding,” she said. “It’s a lot of work just

getting kids to sit still ... it helps following a routine.”

REACHING GOALS

And since her professional routine requires that she adjusts her

social skills to better suit her young students, she has witnessed

her appreciation for adult interaction increase dramatically.

Even though Bordelon has found a new appreciation for adult

conversation, what she manages to convey to her students remains one

of her most important goals.

“I want all my students to learn no matter what their background

or where they come from,” she said. “In my classroom they all have a

shot at succeeding.”

-- Story by Christine Carrillo,

photo by Don Leach