VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A Hampton Roads educator has received national recognition.

Kelly Holbert, 33, was honored with the highly-regarded Educational Excellence Award from KinderCare Learning Companies for her commitment to helping children excel in the classroom.

She serves as the lead toddler teacher at the General Booth KinderCare in Virginia Beach. Out of 42,000 educators, 400 were nominated by colleagues, including Holbert. She was one of 27 recipients of the award.

Holbert said that seven years ago, she was hired on at the General Booth KinderCare with no experience by Tiffany Dixon, Hampton Road KinderCare district leader.

“There was just something really special about her personality,” Dixon said. “I felt like what she had to offer these kids was something that we couldn’t say no to.”

At the time she was hired, Holbert was a stay-at-home mom with a 2-year-old an a husband on deployment.

“I had our second daughter,” Holbert said. “Once he came home from deployment, my oldest was two and then the second one had just turned six months and I was like, I can’t do this anymore. I have no friends, I have no family, I have nothing here. It’s just me and these children in this apartment. So I was like, I’ve got to do something.”

She put her children in the same daycare where she became a teacher, and said it’s one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

“It honestly pulled me out of like,” Holbert said. “I’m going to get emotional. We had just moved here because of the military and I had nothing. And then I took a chance working here. And these women are my life. The parents that I’ve met have become the closest people to me. I really, really love these children and their parents.”

Kelly Holbert will receive a $3,500 cash prize and one year of professional development opportunities from KinderCare Learning Companies.