Kellond Elementary School

Kristina is a 28-year Tucson Unified employee who has worked at Kellond Elementary for the last nine years of her career. She’s always taught elementary grades but has specifically liked working at Kellond Elementary because of the students and staff members. 

She’s reaching the point where she’s contemplating retirement and what to do after retirement, but knows she wants to continue working with students in some capacity. 

One of her recent favorite moments was watching the students at the Stories that SOAR Assembly light up when they realized their stories were chosen for the production. 

“The kids are great – they want to learn [and] they’re kind,” Swenson said. “And the team is really good because we all work together. It doesn’t matter, they’re all our kids. So we work together to help them achieve.”

Feven is in her second year at Kellond, but the Tucson transplant from Los Angeles loves working at a smaller school and being able to be more hands on with students. “I’m really grateful to be here,” Feven said. “It’s a beautiful school.” 

The second grade teacher has her classroom well decorated with a reading corner, maps, flowers and more. Feven believes having so many different things available in a classroom helps create an environment of discipline because the students want to take care of the classroom to maintain the fun aspects.  

Because her classroom opens up to the school garden, she also incorporates the garden into her curriculum and activities. Students rotate chores, like watering the plants, and are able to learn a sense of respect and ownership for their space. 

Raigin is a Midwest product who found herself in the Southwest after completing her degree in Texas, but so far has loved Arizona and Kellond as she’s in her second year at the elementary school and the Grand Canyon state. 

She loves building relationships with her students as a way to help them know that she doesn’t just view them as numbers in a classroom, but as a person that she cares about. She checks in with them about things that go on outside of school and talks about their lives on a daily basis.
 
“People get to share about things that are happening and what they enjoy on their own, [like] their own interests, and trying to incorporate that into the classroom,” Raigin said.