Board of Directors

Chelsea Marelle

Communications

BUSINESS

After 5 memorable years in the classroom as a special education teacher, I resigned to focus my attention on being a new mom and earning my PhD from Georgia State in Education of Children with Exceptionalities. I have a master’s degree in Special Education from Vanderbilt University and bachelor’s degree from Valdosta State University in Early Childhood Education. I was a cheerleader at both schools, so I specialize in bringing a lot of energy and excitement to everything I do. While teaching, I created a teacher Instagram account, @mrs_specialeducation, to connect with other special education teachers around the world, share my passion and inspiration for teaching students with varying ability levels, and provided a platform to communicate effectively with my community in order to foster support for my students. After 4 years, @mrs_specialeducation has gained about 11,000 followers and received many classroom donations that were only made possible through effective communication and willing community members.

SPECIAL POPS TENNIS

I became involved with Special Pops Tennis while living in Arkansas, where Jim trained a handful of volunteers who were encouraged to start tennis in the Special Olympics for Arkansas. After moving back to Atlanta, I took the first opportunity I could to get involved in Special Pops by captaining a SPUD league team. I have volunteered at multiple events as a unified partner, “mic woman”, hype man, or anything that is asked of me.