GEORGETOWN, Ky. — It’s “National Principals Month” and Kelly Beckett, who is currently a principal at Scott County Middle School, has had several accomplishments throughout her career in education.

Beckett began working in education approximately 14 years ago and started by working as an English Language Learner assistant. She also worked with students with special needs early in her career.

In 2016, she started teaching social studies. Beckett’s dedication earned her an “innovation in education” award by the National Archives last year.

Now, as an administrator, she’s able to serve as a mentor to other teachers.

She recently wrote an essay for the Driving Force Institute for Public Engagement’s new book “Why History Matters: American History Teachers Speak Out.” DFI is a nonprofit that makes educational videos to teach children American history.

The book is filled with essays from history educators throughout the U.S. to provide insight into different subjects. It also includes some frustrations that teachers are facing.

“I was really honored to be chosen to have my essay published in the book,” said Beckett, who contributed an essay about a positive experience she had with one of her classes. “I think it just shows how important Social Studies instruction is and the lessons that we provide in our classrooms every day can make a huge difference in the lives of our students.”

This is Beckett’s first year stepping into the role of being a principal. She has seen how education and perceptions about it have changed over the years.

“At the end of the day, I tell our teachers, ‘Here at Scott Middle, great instruction is great instruction,’ and I just encourage our teachers to use lots of primary source documents and provide multiple perspectives and at the end of the day, we’re letting the students do the reading and the critical thinking and creating their own claims,” said Beckett.

She believes that teaching is still a rewarding job and says that teachers should always remember their “why.”