WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A Woodstock Middle School teacher just got the luck of a draw for a program near and dear to the community.
Amy Kleinman-Kenny recently moved to the metro and brings with her a story of strength and resilience.
She was a former yoga teacher for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Kleinman-Kenny was there in 2018 on the day of the Valentine's Day massacre. A 19-year-old opened fire on students and staff at the high school in the Miami suburban town. Seventeen people died and 14 others were hurt.
Kleinmann-Kenny stayed at the school until the freshman class that witnessed the mass shooting graduated. Then she moved to Atlanta to start a new chapter – but she says she couldn't leave teaching behind.
"When I came here, I wasn't sure I was going to go back into teaching and I kind of looked at a lot of different jobs, and I kept being drawn back in," she said. "I just felt that's where I belong. I'm a teacher, been a teacher for over 17 years."
Now she's starting this new chapter with some luck on her side.
She entered a national contest for new movers and was randomly selected, out of thousands of entries, to win $3,000.
Kleinmann-Kenny says she plans to put some of the money toward her yoga nonprofit, which she started as a healing venture after the Parkland shooting. She plans to use the rest of the money to take her sons on a summer vacation.