The remarkable Jennifer Williams, Idaho’s art teacher extraordinaire
I love to share stories about remarkable educators. That’s what this blog is all about! Today I am sharing the story of Jennifer Williams, a now-retired art teacher who hails from Nampa, Idaho.
As a young woman, Jennifer traveled the world while married to her first husband, an Air Force pilot. She took college classes all over the country, eventually earning multiple degrees in art and secondary education. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Mississippi State University in 1972, and her Master’s degree from Boise State University in 1977.
Following her college graduation, Jennifer accepted her first position as an art teacher at Mountain Home High School in Mountain Home, Idaho, where she worked from 1972 to 1977. The next year she worked as an art instructor at Fort Boise Alternative School in southwestern Idaho. From 1998 to 2004, Jennifer taught art at Skyview High School in Nampa.
In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Jennifer has also volunteered as an art outreach instructor for Project Van Go, a program she inaugurated in 1976. For this project, the innovative art teacher acquired a van and stocked it full of art supplies. Then she traveled to the small, rural town of Prairie, Idaho, which only had kindergarten through eighth grades in a little red schoolhouse with limited resources. “It really took on a beautiful, wonderful life of its own,” Jennifer remembers. Over the years, she has expanded the outreach program to other rural Idaho communities, often paying expenses out of pocket.
In all, Jennifer’s career as an educator has spanned over four decades. During her long career, Jennifer has garnered many awards. In 2000, she earned both the Governor’s Award in the Arts and the National Unsung Heroes Award. In 2002, she won the coveted Teaching Excellence Award from the National Education Association, and she was named the Idaho Teacher of the Year. In 2005, Jennifer was named Idaho Art Teacher of the Year, and in 2012, she was designated the Idaho Retired Art Teacher of the Year. In 2016, Jennifer was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas, the first educator from Idaho to be so honored.
