Kami Cotler is probably best known for her role as Elizabeth on the hit show The Waltons. After ten years on the program, she became a teacher and principal in California. Photo credit: MeTV.

I often discover dedicated educators who have also earned acclaim in Hollywood. One such teacher is Kami Cotler, who is known to many as the actress who played Elizabeth Walton on the television series The Waltons.

Kami was born on June 17, 1965, in Long Beach, California. Kami was only seven years old when she landed the role of the youngest Walton child on The Waltons. She spent ten years of her childhood on the show, and she has returned to Hollywood to portray Elizabeth in each of the show’s reunion movies. In addition, she occasionally makes speeches and personal appearances.

As a young woman, Kami earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. Once she completed her education, she launched her career as an educator at a small rural school in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia. There she taught for ALPHA, an interdisciplinary alternative program designed to assist at-risk high school students.

In 2001, Kami returned to California where she accepted a position as a teacher at Environmental Charter High School in Lawndale, a suburb of Los Angeles. She taught ninth grade there. In 2004, the former actress became the Co-Director of the Ocean Charter School, a position she held until 2007. That year she inaugurated her own business as a consultant. Later she served as the Principal of Environmental Charter Middle School located in Los Angeles County. The school is part of a network of free public schools in underserved communities of south Los Angeles that prepares students for four-year college. The school’s instructional program offers a focus on experiential learning and uses the environment to engage students and prepare them to become leaders in their communities. Kami has also served as a Board Member of the American Montessori Society.

To learn more about this remarkable educator, see this interview published by MeTV.