U-46 teacher with gift for reaching students dies

Teachers like to think they reach all of their students, but none could connect with children with the ease and natural personality that Chelsea Lloyd demonstrated in her short career, those who knew her say.

The 29-year-old physical education teacher who taught at Tefft Middle School in Streamwood and Ellis Middle School in Elgin before that, died Tuesday night at her home in Hoffman Estates. The Cook County Medical Examiner completed an autopsy but a cause of death was not immediately available pending further testing.

Lloyd graduated from Crystal Lake South High School and played soccer at Aurora University. She was the junior varsity boys soccer coach at Streamwood High School, where she also coached the varsity girls soccer team in 2010.

Streamwood High School Athletic Director Pat Ryan said the news came as a shock to the community.

“The kids are devastated,” Ryan said. “We called in all the soccer players from the boys and girls teams this morning and met with them. There were a lot of tears.”

Although Lloyd only joined Tefft in the 2010-2011 school year, Principal Lavonne Smiley said, Lloyd left an indelible mark on the school and students.

“She was everything you would want an instructor to be,” Smiley said. “She was an effective educator and made connections with kids that was never forced or awkward.”

Evidence of Lloyd's effect on students was visible in classrooms throughout Tefft on Wednesday where students were making posters and writing poems.

“She called her students ‘Lloyders,'” Smiley said. “Troubled students connected with her, kids from every aspect of academic life at Tefft responded to her. Students are writing ‘Forever Lloyders,' and that's a testimony to the impact she had on kids.”

Lloyd's colleagues said she had a knack for talking to the students on their level, whether it was about an issue they were having or their love of soccer.

“She could talk to them about anything,” said Diana Esposito, physical education department chairwoman at Tefft. “They would ask her for advice on any little problem. She would take the time and listen.”

Her rapport with students and the many ideas she brought to the department will be missed, said Luz Rojas, a fellow P.E. teacher.

“That was the effect she had in one year,” Rojas said. “Imagine if she had been here a lifetime, the number of students she would have touched with her personality.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.