Excellent Educators: Chesapeake
Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Throughout the month of May, 10 On Your Side is highlighting teachers in our area for our Excellent Educators series. In Chesapeake, we were introduced to Kaitlyn Gabriel. In 2025, she was named teacher of the year for both Oscar Smith Middle School and for the entire school district.
View all of the nominated educators
She teaches Civics and Economics to 6th graders at the middle school. Even though she struggled in school herself, she knew she wanted to be a teacher since Kindergarten.
During WAVY's visit to Gabriel's classroom, she turned the Civics lesson into a secret agent style investigation. She is known to occasionally dress in costume for lessons, even if it makes driving to work a little embarrassing.
Known to many students as Ms. Gabe, she started teaching in 2019, right before the COVID pandemic.
'Never really got a normal year and I think that's kind of a blessing, because it's made me a better teacher,' Gabriel said. 'All of the cool lessons I have come up with and the way that I have evolved as a teacher wouldn't have really happened without those learning gaps. It's forced me to be the best that I can be because it is what they deserve.'
Outside the classroom, Gabriel is also a soccer coach.
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