Two Glenwood Art Teachers Earn Statewide Recognition

The Art Educators of Iowa have selected Glenwood’s  Jeff Yoachim and Janiece Kinzle as two of the outstanding art teachers in Iowa.
Kinzle is the organization’s Outstanding Elementary Art Education and Yoachim is the Outstanding Secondary Art Educator. Both received their awards at an Oct. 7 ceremony.

Yoachim has long been active in the Nebraska Art Teachers Association and has served on their board. Since coming to Glenwood, his students have won numerous honors under his leadership including state Youth Art Month winners, Governor Show winners, AEI All State first team, Corning Center for Art honors, Hawkeye 10 Conference Art Show selections and Iowa Western picks for gold, silver and honorable mention keys.  Yoachim is also on Glenwood’s curriculum writing team as well as being an active artist who has had work in several local and regional exhibits.

Yoachim said being chosen by his peers as an outstanding art teacher is a “great honor.”

“Out of the entire state of Iowa, they choose just these few every year,” Yoachim said. “And then I found out I was chosen - wow, what a wonderful experience. I am thankful for all of the support I have received from my colleagues, the great kids that I have been able to work with, and the encouragement from my wife, family and friends.”

Kinzle, who retired from teaching elementary art in Glenwood last spring, worked 36 years as an art teacher in the district.  She’s had students’ work recognized and exhibited at many venues including the Youth Art Month Governor’s Show, AEI All State, and the Joslyn Art Museum.  She has been a conference presenter at AEI and the National Association of Art Educators conferences as well as co-chairing two AEI conferences, once in 1999 and again in 2012.  She served on the Youth Art Month committee from 2008-2013.

“Over the past 36 years I have been blessed to have the privilege of encouraging thousands of students to ‘Think Like An Artist’ in my teachings of the visual arts,” Kinzle was quoted as saying in the AEI press release.

“Arts education develops students’ creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking abilities. Art teaches beauty, order, and expressive qualities. Art gives students a deeper understanding of multicultural values and reinforces and brings to life what students learn in other subjects. Student engagement in art teaches collaboration, innovation, and readiness for real-life.”

Glenwood Community School District Superintendent Devin Embray said he was not aware of another school district sharing both the elementary and secondary outstanding teacher awards from AEI in the same year.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Embray said. “It’s a great thing to be able to say we have a current and former art teacher receive an outstanding award from the Iowa Art Educators. It’s just a reinforcement of the great things going on in our district.”