Kelly Haws, a legendary Sartell teacher and coach, will be honored at halftime during “National Girls and Women in Sports Day” Wednesday, Feb. 1. All women wearing a sports jersey will get into the game and the event free at the Claire Lynch Stadium on the College of St. Benedict’s campus in St. Joseph when the CSB Blazers play St. Thomas. The game will start at 7:30 p.m.

Haws is the winner of the 2012 CSB “Breaking Barriers” award. She has broken barriers in both her teaching and coaching. For 24 years she has taught special education in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District with an expertise in dealing with dyslexia. She also holds a coaching license from St. Cloud State University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s degree in learning disabilities. She will begin work on her doctorate degree at SCSU this fall.

Haws graduated in 1982 from St. Cloud Cathedral High School as a five-sport letter winner. While as a sophomore, she switched from swimming and diving to running on the boys’ cross-country team, which is one of her ground-breaking achievements.

Haws has coached the Cathedral’s girls’ cross-country team for 22 seasons (1984-1991 and from 1998 to the present). During those times, the team has competed at state 17 times and secured the state championship twice – in 1986 and in 2011. The team also took three state runner-up finishes in 1999, 2003 and 2010.

Haws has been a gymnastics official for the Minnesota State High School League for the past 30 years. She is also on the board of the Central Minnesota Gymnastics Judging Association and mentors the new judges.

Besides her teaching in Sartell, Haws has also taught at SCSU for 13 years. One of Haws’ most widely known ground-breaking activities is her pioneering work in the field of dyslexia. Through her work in diagnosing, tutoring and general education about dyslexia far and wide, Haws has earned statewide respect for helping students break the barriers of dyslexia.