Jennifer Montgomery, left, poses with her students during a water scarcity project where she had students carry a bucket of water above their heads as they walked a mile. Submitted photo
Jennifer Montgomery, an English teacher at Eminence Independent Middle School, hopes to ignite a sense of passion with her students through her own love of literature.
“I believe in the power of literature to create empathy and to engage students of all backgrounds and abilities,” she said.
Jennifer Montgomery
Montgomery was named the 2025 Kentucky Teacher of the Year during a ceremony at the Kentucky State Capitol on Sept. 10. The award marks a major achievement in her 22-year teaching career, most of which has been spent in Eminence Independent. She was also named the middle school division winner out of nine Teacher Achievement Award recipients honored by the Kentucky Department of Education at the ceremony.
“I wanted to work in the same community I lived in, so I applied to Eminence Independent,” Montgomery said. “I began teaching 7th and 8th grade English and I fell in love with middle school students. I love their creativity, honesty and inquisitive nature.”
Montgomery grew up in Trimble County without running water or telephone service. As she has incorporated project-based learning into her English curriculum, she developed a water scarcity project around the picture book, “The Water Princess.”
“I ask students what they notice about the climate, the characters, etc.,” she said. “If you were in Gigi’s (the main character) shoes, how would your life be different from what it is right now?”
Once the students have the chance to reflect on that question, Montgomery said she has them pick up a gallon of water from the classroom and take it to the football field, where they walk enough laps to literally walk a mile in Gigi’s shoes. She follows this activity with more reflection with the students.
“It is more powerful for students to discover this knowledge on their own rather than for me to explicitly teach it to them,” Montgomery said.
The lessons continue with the novel “A Long Walk to Water” and field trips to the Louisville Water Tower and WaterStep, a nonprofit in Louisville dedicated to providing safe water in developing countries. One of her former students actually works there now.
“I love to tell them that just a few years ago he was in their shoes, and he is now helping people gain access to one of the world’s most precious resources through clean water projects,” Montgomery said.
During her time as a teacher, Montgomery has worked with several community groups, including the local library, police departments and city council members, incorporating them into her lessons to show her students how these organizations play a role in society. She even teaches an elective class called “Community-Based Problem Solving,” featuring projects like working with the local library to plant a flower garden, helping the city paint fire hydrants across town and working with a local cemetery on a website that allows people to see if their loved ones are buried there.
“Our classroom is the community, and the community is our classroom,” Montgomery said. “Students also bring projects to the table that they want to see done in our community and we engage in those as well. This builds students’ confidence, real-world skills, and it helps them take pride in themselves, their school and their community.”
Montgomery and Eminence Independent work with the Kentucky Writing Project on professional learning and English language arts instruction. Jean Wolph, director emerita for the Kentucky Writing Project, said Montgomery is a dedicated teacher with an “imaginative approach to planning and classroom instruction.”
“Jennifer is a standout in so many regards,” Wolph said. “She goes the extra mile to make curricular connections that involve firsthand experiences for her rural students, taking them to sites that help them understand the context for the literature they are reading.”
Thom Coffee, assistant superintendent for Eminence Independent, said Montgomery creates relationships with her students in such a way that builds them up and allows them to believe in themselves.
“She is the living embodiment of the belief that all students can learn and achieve at a high level,” he said.
And not only is she a great teacher, but Coffee also said Montgomery is a great person as well.
“Jennifer has the heart of a servant and leads through service to her community,” he said. “She is beloved not only by her students and our staff, but also by the community at large.”
Montgomery will begin her service year as a statewide ambassador for the education profession starting in January. Her role as Teacher of the Year will focus on elevating the importance of excellence and professionalism in the teaching profession and assisting KDE’s efforts to grow, strengthen and diversify Kentucky’s educator workforce.
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