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Benton’s Stewart discovered
passion for becoming educator
By Michael Chamness
IASA Director of Communications
The path Kelly Stewart followed to become an
educator is not one she would recommend to most
students. She dropped out of college for a year and
helped coach a junior high girls’ basketball team, an
experience that changed her life.
“That year allowed me to discover my passion for
teaching, and then I knew what I wanted to do. It
became crystal clear,” Stewart recalled. “From then
on I focused on education and I had a purpose-driven
life. I could not wait to go back to school, and I was in
the front row of my classes. It was a powerful
experience, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
It might have been an unusual path, but that
experience was part of a remarkable career that
culminated with Dr.
Kelly Stewart, superintendent of
Benton Consolidated High School District 103, being
named the 2014 Illinois Superintendent of the Year.
She was honored at the recent Joint Annual
Conference in Chicago.
Receiving this award is a tremendous honor that
has flooded me with a wide range of emotions
including:
shock,
humility,
elation,
and
affirmation. The most powerful of these has been
affirmation,” said Stewart, who has been an educator
for 30 years, including the last 12 as superintendent
of the Benton district. “My main goals in life have
been simple: to make a difference and to make my
parents proud of me. This honor is the ultimate pat on
the back for a job well done and the fact that it comes
from my peers gives it great significance. While I am
humbled to be the one to hold the title, it represents
all of us that work tirelessly for the children of Illinois
daily.”
Those who nominated Stewart noted some major
accomplishments in the Benton district since she
became superintendent in 2001, including:
Keeping Benton High School ahead of the curve
with regard to curriculum development to provide
more opportunities for students, including
implementation of the READ 180 program that
has dramatically improved reading capabilities of
some students by providing them with 90 minutes
of reading instruction daily.
Upgrading and remodeling the district’s 40-year-
old buildings to make them safer, more
comfortable and to equip them with state of the
art technology.
(Continued on page 5)
Kelly credits her father, the late Harry Stewart, with being
her motivation for becoming an educator. He is pictured
here with Kelly, her sister Laura, left, and President
Barrack Obama.
