Always leave school happy

La Salle University's Elementary and Special Education Program gave Kerry Hurtt, '98, the foundation for a nearly 30-year career in teaching.

On top of learning how to be a teacher, Hurtt also credits her time at 20th and Olney with teaching her some valuable life lessons, like being independent and learning how to live with other people, which she called a "lifelong skill."

While her friends were making college decisions, applying to schools and taking the SATs, Kerry Hurtt, '98, didn't know what she wanted to do. She decided to go to community college, stay at home in Brigantine, N.J., and take some time to figure it out.

When her little sister decided to go to La Salle, Hurtt's future started taking shape.

"She was in the Education Program and she thought it was so great," Hurtt said. "So, I thought I would check it out. I visited her and made some decisions and that's when I decided to transfer and go to La Salle."

The Philadelphia campus was also appealing for the South Jersey native. Even though she was still close to home, it felt like she was out on her own.

With a lifelong love of children and experience babysitting and watching her two younger siblings, Hurtt felt that La Salle's Early Elementary and Special Education Program was a good fit for her too.

"I just thought it was right for me," she said. "I couldn't see myself doing anything else."

She loved her time in the program and still has friends that she met at La Salle to this day. Hurtt and a friend she met in the Education Program came back for Homecoming a couple of years ago.

"It was nice to come back and see it with adult eyes," she said, joking that she was now able to buy herself whatever she wanted from the bookstore. "It's good to come back and see it and how the campus changed."

In the final year of her education, Hurtt and her classmates participated in student teaching in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. She credited La Salle's focus on making sure that Explorers experience all the different ways that education can look during their senior year with both helping her gain experience and appreciating the place she eventually ended up.

"It's really eye-opening because you get to see different things. So, that prepared me for the different schools that there are out there, and to appreciate what I have now because of what I've seen in the past," she said. "An eye-opening, but great experience."

On top of learning how to be a teacher, Hurtt also credits her time at 20th and Olney with teaching her some valuable life lessons, like being independent and learning how to live with other people, which she called a "lifelong skill."

Hurtt graduated from La Salle and went straight into a teaching job in a needier district, she said. She was there for two years before an afternoon on the beach in her hometown made her realize that she wanted to be working where she lived.

She applied for the Brigantine School District, was hired, and hasn't looked back since. She's been with the district and at the same school since 2000. While she's currently teaching first grade, thanks to her La Salle education, Hurtt has had the chance to teach every grade but kindergarten and students of varying backgrounds and skillsets.

"Because of my certificates that I earned at La Salle, I'm a regular teacher but I'm also a special education teacher," she said. "It kinds of makes me multi-faceted and I can bounce back and forth."

Hurtt's experience and commitment to teaching her students paid off. In 2026, she was named Brigantine Education Association's Teacher of the Year, after being nominated by parents and other teachers in the district.

"They turned in some letters nominating me for this award, which is a really nice award," she said. "I was honored at the Board of Education meeting that took place in January. It's a nice thing, really sweet."

Despite the prestige of the award, Hurtt, who prides herself on putting her all into her job every day, finds the regular everyday moments just as rewarding.

"When the parents of students I have thank me, or I see them out in the community, that to me is really good feedback," she said. "That's another award itself."

The rewards go far beyond just the recognition and compliments from parents for Hurtt, who had a bad experience with a teacher when she was in first grade.

"I get to make a child happy," she said. "I always try to fix it so they leave happy, they had a good day, they got to see their friends and then they had to work a little."

All of these elements of being a teacher combine for Hurtt as she works towards achieving her main goal.

"I want them to like school. That's my biggest goal. But I also want the parents to get on board, which sometimes can be challenging, so I try and win over the parents and get them to like school too," she said. "You know, this is first grade, and if they don't like it now, it's just a really long time to be in school. My goal is get everybody on board and everybody helping out."

Hurtt encouraged current Explorer education majors to consider her career when they're looking for jobs.

"I'd like to put a plug in for these education majors to consider expanding their resumes and teach at the beach. Come down towards the New Jersey coast," she said. "These are great schools."

Hurtt's feelings when she applied to La Salle have been proven right.

"I can't imagine doing anything else," she said. "And it hands me a laugh sometimes, because I feel like I'm just so lucky, I get paid to do this."

In 2026, Hurtt added another contribution to the Brigantine community, where she lives with her husband of 25 years and two sons, to her resume. She is one of four Grand Marshalls for the St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 14, which also happens to be her birthday.

"One of our council members in our community was the Grand Marshall, and I expressed an interest," she said. "I read him my list of why I thought I would be a good candidate: I'm Irish, I like the month of March, my birthday is in March, and really it's where I live and they're going to run out of Irish people soon."

Hurtt got the job. The lead up to the Parade involves doing some promotional work and helping raise money for the charitable causes supported by the event. And on Saturday, "I get to parade down my town and wave at everybody," she said.

Hurtt's application for the role was also supported by an item from her closet.

"I have a big green coat that I wear. I'm kind of known for my green coat," she said. "Only on special occasion days, Eagles games, Polar Plunge, and now St. Patrick's Day."

-Naomi Thomas