When you enter room 191 you immediately feel the positive vibes emanating from her colorful room. English teacher, SEMHS Yearbook, and World Travelers Club Advisor Ms. Lelchuk has been connecting with students for four years with her sophisticated style. 

In the past four years that Ms. Lelchuk has been teaching at South El Monte High School, she has been building relationships with her students and learning new things with her students. “I like how every single day in my classroom is different. Even though we have routines and certain activities every day, things are constantly changing and I really like the variety of that.”

Ms. Lelchuk really enjoys the community at South. She loves how close the students and staff are since the school is small and feels lucky to be a part of  “family,” she shares.

Initially she wanted to be a museum curator for her love of art, but during her freshman year of college she started to realize English was something she had a greater passion for. Over the course of two consecutive summers during her college years she was in a program called Johns Hopkins CTY (Center for Talented Youth.) She was in charge of fifteen girls who were in grades 7 through 9 and adored working with teenagers. “I think teens are so cool and have such great minds, and they’re so excited about the world.’’ Choosing a career in education was a way for her to combine literature, stories, learning, and writing with how much she enjoys working with teenagers.

Something that Ms. Lelchuk is proud to be in control of is the World Travelers Club. She always loved to travel because she got to explore background stories of art in museums all around the world. 

She is very excited for her first trip to Italy and Greece with South El Monte High Students in the summer of 2020. She wants the students to see there is more to the world, and give them an opportunity to widen people’s perspective and for them to build empathy. 

Ms. Lelchuk is also an advisor of the yearbook and Literary Magazine. She pushes the students to be creative and try things that were never tried before. “I am very passionate about helping students find their voices and learn how to be creative, and learn how to awaken their inner creative child.”