KELLI+RJ

OUR STORY

On November 20, 2007, Kelli received a Facebook message in her inbox from an “RJ Erre Jota Williams.” Though she didn’t recognize the strange name, she was more than familiar with the subject line which read “Teach for America Miami.” As a first year teacher with Teach For America (TFA) in Homestead, Florida, she was intrigued by the message which asked about her opinions of the program in Miami. Apparently this RJ character had gone to college with one of Kelli’s roommates, Shay, and she put him in contact with her.

 

Now in true Kelli fashion, it took her nine days to craft the perfect response—complete with two phone numbers and her email address. She wanted to be very thorough in answering his questions! And in true RJ fashion, he had messaged Kelli the night before his decision was due, and in the nine days that it took her to respond, he had already accepted his position as a high school math teacher in Miami and forgotten all about his Facebook message. Kelli forgot about the message as well, as she had her hands full with her class of second grade students.

 

Fast forward past RJ’s graduation from WUSTL (Washington University in St. Louis) and the end of Kelli’s first year of teaching…it was time for TFA’s summer institute in Atlanta. RJ and Kelli became fast friends, bonding over Bud Light Lime, late nights at Opera, and Lucky Buddha Chinese food. When it came time to return to Miami, they stayed friends despite teaching and living 45 minutes away from each other. They went bowling, saw lots of movies, attended the World Baseball Classic at the former Marlins stadium, and did (well Kelli did, RJ watched) lots of karaoke at the Fat Monkey Bar in Homestead.

 

In April of 2009, a group of friends in TFA decided to go on a weeklong Caribbean cruise. On the first night, Kelli and RJ’s relationship became official, and the rest is history!

 

Since their time in Miami, Kelli and RJ have stayed connected to education and Teach For America. Upon leaving the classroom, RJ moved to Boston where he studied Urban Planning at MIT. Kelli followed him in pursuit of heading back into the classroom after a few years of coaching new teachers with TFA in Miami. After a year, she attended Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Once they graduated with their master’s degrees in 2013, they moved to Chicago, where they currently live with their puppy, Yadi.