Kelly Payne is a high school Social Studies teacher in Lexington/Richland School District 5. Her children, ranging in age from 12 to 16 grew up in Irmo attending District 5 schools. They are members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Irmo.

Kelly earned a degree in Political Science in 1991 from the University of South Carolina. Deciding to pursue a career in education, she returned to USC and in 2005 received a Masters Degree in Education and Social Studies with distinguished honors.

She understands the importance of teacher involvement in the community and is very active in the Lake Murray/Irmo Rotary Club where she is a Paul Harris Fellow and Advisor to Rotary’s Interact Club for students in the District. Her Interact students actively serve the community through non-profit and charitable organizations such as Adopt-a-Highway and Homeworks of America.

In 2006, Kelly teamed her high school with the National Safety Council to organize “Alive at 25,” an acclaimed driver safety program to reduce teen highway fatalities. This program she inaugurated in SC, taught by members of law enforcement, has spread to 19 schools and graduated 20,000 students. In 2009, Kelly received the SC National Safety Council's Leadership award for Alive at 25.

She has founded a group called “It Kids.” Students in this unique group are motivated and committed to community service and civic action. Through this involvement, members have become active in the political process. They have received lectures from the Governor, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, and Legislators on both sides of the political aisle, and others.

In 2009 Kelly earned Wal-Mart’s Teacher of the Year Award for Lexington/Richland School District 5.