5 minutes with Kelly Franklin, SWCC English instructor

• HOMETOWN: Mansfield, Illinois

• FIRST IMPRESSION OF CRESTON: It's just like my hometown: it's small. Living here is no different than living in Illinois, I just crossed a river.

• FAMILY: I have four kids. Four kids and one boyfriend — one boyfriend is enough.

• HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TEACHING? EIght years.

• WHY DID YOU START TEACHING? My mom always told me I should be a teacher, and I thought "I should maybe just finally do what my mom says."

• FAVORITE BOOK: I wish I could tell you it was an amazing work of masterpiece, you know, by F. Scott Fitzgerald or Hemingway, but it's not. It's "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, because I love Jamie Fraser. Hand to God.

• ADVICE TO NEW TEACHERS: Don't be afraid to have fun with your students. Learning should be fun and even if it's a hard subject, that doesn't mean you can't make it fun. Don't be afraid to be silly and goofy and weird, because typically they (students) remember the weird teacher, they like the weird teacher or the silly teacher and they feel more comfortable with you.

• IF YOU HAD A TIME MACHINE, WHEN WOULD YOU GO? The '40s, because I was built for those clothes and I can't wear a lot of the clothes that modern people wear. I have a 1940s figure. And I like the music from there, and I would like to get all styled up in those clothes and go to a dance. It's very romantic.

• FAVORITE PART OF THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR: I love meeting all the new people and making them comfortable, because they're all so scared when they roll up in my class, but when I hear them leaving and they're saying "this was so much fun" and "I'm not afraid anymore." And I love seeing them in the hallway and saying their name, and they go "she remembered my name!" and they feel comfortable, and I just like that. I like them. I like seeing them eager to come to class and I like it when students are excited to learn.