It is the end of the day; the second floor classroom is dark. As we walk into the dark class, social studies teacher Janet Kelsey sits at the computer, putting the last touches on the PowerPoint she plans to show us, to accompany her lecture on the Cold War.  Immediately, I think: Yes, a lecture!

So why are Mrs. Kelsey’s lectures–and therefore her class–so fun?  Because Mrs. Kelsey makes them that way.  When trying to think of a word, or a phrase to describe the class, the best I could come up with was “end-of-the-day fun” because plain and simple, that’s what being in Mrs. Kelsey’s class is.

No matter what we are doing, Mrs. Kelsey has a way to make it fun. While learning about the Great Depression, we played the stock game, and while learning about the Western Frontier we played the farm game.

But it’s not just the game days that make the class fun, it’s the everyday interaction. Even when she doesn’t have an activity, or a PowerPoint, she still makes the period fly by.

She is never at a loss for words, and always has a story to tell, which is what truly makes her class so fun. I’m not sure, if part of her family was really on one of the first boats to America, or if they survived the Dust Bowl, or if she was attacked by gypsies while living in Italy, but the stories not only pass time in class, they also help me learn.

And that is the best part about Mrs. Kelsey’s class, with all the fun we have it doesn’t feel like we’re learning, but we are. With all of the fun we have in class, studying for a test is easy because all I have to do is remember back to this story… or this funny picture on the PowerPoint to remember a specific detail about an event.

Mrs. Kelsey is one of the best teachers I have had at West: she is strict but not too strict; she has an uncanny ability to control the class; and, most importantly, she can make her class fun.  I love going ninth period every day, because of that class, those memories, and Mrs. Kelsey.