As an art teacher, Jane Woods loves to display her students’ work and highlight the great things they’re doing.

But at a school-wide assembly last week, the Powell Middle School teacher found herself in the spotlight, as students and staff gathered to surprise her with the news that she had been named Powell’s 2019 Teacher of the Year.

Woods quickly turned the attention back to the students she loves.

“I just can’t believe I get to be in the same classroom as you,” she told students, adding, “You’re just amazing. We have the greatest kids and a really awesome school.”

Woods is known for putting students and their needs first.

“She is truly an above and beyond staff member in supporting you guys,” said Chanler Buck, the assistant principal at Powell Middle School.

In her classroom, Woods helps each student at their own level and is a servant educator.

“She epitomizes that term,” said Principal Kyle Rohrer, adding she has “unwavering commitment” to students.

Rohrer said he wishes he had Woods as an art teacher, joking that he is “pretty much a stick-figure drawer.”

“She tells me that if I had the time to sit in her room, she could actually help me to be a much better artist than I am,” Rohrer said.

Woods did her student teaching at Westside Elementary School, and then taught for 19 years in Newcastle with third, fourth and fifth grades. Woods started teaching at Powell Middle School in the fall of 2007. When she applied for the position, former principal Jason Sleep said there were many good candidates.

“Ms. Woods came in and wowed the committee with her different art techniques for kids,” he said.

Sleep called her “one of the most dedicated, special teachers I’ve ever known.”

“You can’t stay here longer than Jane Woods — she was always here before me, she was always here after me,” he said.

Woods said that, like many Powell Middle School teachers, she loves her job.

“I’m just a small part of an amazing team,” she said, telling students, “There are so many adults in this room that love you and do a job that’s really, really hard.”

She told students they know how hard it is to be a middle school kid, but said it’s also difficult to be a middle school staff member.

Woods takes on cross-curricular projects with other teachers, helping with students’ work in science or other subjects, Buck said. She also teaches art classes for the Powell Recreation District in the summer.

During last week’s assembly, Woods thanked Powell Middle School students and coworkers, saying she’s “so proud” to be a member of the staff.

“I couldn’t do it without everybody — the lady who cleans my room everyday so it’s beautiful for you, all the way up to everyone who always says yes when I ask them for something for you,” Woods said.

Woods said she enjoys watching kids come to middle school as shy sixth-graders and then become eighth-graders ready for high school. She loves to brag on her students and told them, “You know you didn’t get there just by having a fun art class.”

“It’s not called art ‘play,’ it’s called artwork, right?” Woods said.

Superintendent Jay Curtis congratulated Woods on the honor, and noted it’s the second year in a row that a Powell Middle School staffer was named Teacher of the Year.

Rohrer said he had multiple teachers reach out and tell him Woods should be recognized.

“… It was cool how many people recognize what she does day in and day out, every single day,” Rohrer said.