Kayla Holt is the current 8th Grade English teacher for Fair Grove Middle School. She has held the position for the past five years, and has been in education for twelve years.
Holt brings a very impressive education background to the district. She graduated from Missouri State University in 2013, with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She took her degree to Bolivar R-1 School District, where she taught various grades for seven years. While she was working at Bolivar, and during the COVID pandemic, she got her masters degree in Instructional Technology and Leadership from Southwest Baptist University. Following graduation she moved to join the Fair Grove District.
Holt described the dynamic of working alongside her spouse Chris Holt, High School Special Education Teacher, High School Assistant Football Coach, and Middle School Boys Basketball Coach. Holt stated, ¨Many people wouldn’t be able to work with their spouse just down the hall from them, but I love it! My husband and I are a team in all aspects of life, and at school it is no different.¨ She further explained, ¨He is my number one support for anything I do within my career as a teacher or coach, and same goes for me…He’s my comfort when I have hard days, same for him if he has a hard day, which helps because he knows what I’m going through to then help me during those times.”
Holt previously held the position of both 7th, and 8th Grade as an English Teacher, but has moved to only 8th Grade English. She is entering her 5th year as the Middle School Girls Track coach, and has adopted the position of the Middle School Cheer Coach, alongside Lindsay Dunning, a fellow teacher at Fair Grove.
Carrie Green, Middle School English Teacher, Middle School Girls Basketball Coach, and National Junior Honor Society Advisor, has worked alongside Holt for five years. Green stated,
¨We are very like-minded and she is an easy person to talk to about anything: teaching, sports, or our families and kid’s activities. She is also very helpful and usually has to help me with something tech related once a week!¨
Holt ended with, ¨I love teaching, but more importantly I love to build relationships with young people in hopes that I can help them through what will probably be the most awkward, and for some the most difficult, time in their lives to be better prepared for the world outside of school.¨
