Tina Harms was wrapping up another day of work at Montgomery City Elementary when she received some good news on the afternoon of April 9.

The second-grade teacher was voted the R-II School District Teacher of the Year for the 2025-26 school year. It is one of the biggest awards of her 38-year teaching career.

“It meant a tremendous amount,” Harms said. “I’ve been at this for 38 years. I was thinking the other day about how many students I taught over the 38 years. I can’t even imagine.”

The other R-II Teacher of the Year candidates were Beth Beattie of Montgomery County High School, Corey Orr of Montgomery County Middle School and Cathy Weatherford of Jonesburg Elementary School.

A month ago, Harms was chosen as the MCE Teacher of the Year, qualifying her for the district’s award. She received the MCE Teacher of the Year award on March 13 with several of her family members in attendance.

“I can’t believe that it happened because they choose only one person every year,” Harms said. “I worked with some tremendous teachers. Any one of them could have had this award, but it was me and I don’t understand the realm of that because I could name off five or six who could have easily been chosen.”

R-II Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jocelyn Schluss said in a statement that Harms is an educator who is committed to every student’s well-being.

“Whether she is meticulously ensuring a student feels safely included in every classroom activity or building a culture of cross-grade mentorship with “buddy room” collaborations, Tina consistently goes above and beyond,” Schluss said. “Her classroom at MCE is a space where academic growth is inextricably linked to emotional confidence. She doesn’t just teach second graders; she empowers them to believe they are capable, worthy and loved, maintaining high expectations while providing the individualized support each child needs to meet them.”

Harms has been working at the R-II School District for 18 years, all of them at MCE.

“The district has given me an opportunity to teach here in the district and love all of these kids for all of these years,” Harms said. “I couldn’t have been more thankful for that. My administration has always had my back and I appreciate that. (MCE Principal) Dr. (Jill) Jacob and (MCE Assistant Principal) Mrs. (Laura) Allen have always been very supportive of me and anything I’m doing. They’ve been tremendous cheerleaders for me and I still appreciate that.”

Harms was voted as recipient of the R-II Mini-Grant for the last nine years. Last year, she received a grant for her STEAM It Up in the Makerspace project, which provided and enhanced a makerspace in her classroom with an emphasis on activities that are related to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. Harms said she writes grants so she could get more stuff to be added to her makerspace.

Harms also has hand-crocheted custom “stuffies” in her classroom for her students to play with. When she’s not teaching, Harms does plenty of crocheting. She has been the owner of Tina’s Crochet Cafe for six years. She makes crochet items in an Amigurumi style, which is Japanese for crocheted animals.

Harms said she brings social-emotional learning to her classroom.

“As a teacher, you have to have emotional intelligence and that’s being able to meet the needs of the kids where they are at emotionally, socially as well as the academics,” Harms said.

Born in Minnesota, Harms moved to her current residence at Warrenton after being hired to work at Warrenton Christian Academy following her college graduation in the late 1980s.

“The pastor came down to visit my college and I hooked up with him,” Harms said. “He’s like, ‘We need a teacher. Do you want to come teach at our school?’ So I landed in Warrenton.”

Harms taught at Warrenton Christian School for 20 years before joining the MCE teaching staff in 2008. She taught fourth and fifth grade for several years before she was moved to second grade in 2018.

“What I love about fourth and fifth grade is the independence and I thought second grade can’t be quite as independent, but they are,” Harms said. “They have the independence, but they still have that need to be with you. Fourth and fifth grade kind of want to be on their own and have their independence and they don’t need their teacher as much. In second grade, they’re independent, but they also need their teachers. They don’t mind asking for help.”

Harms, who earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in elementary education, said she has no plans of wrapping up her teaching career anytime soon.

“I’ve been eligible for retirement for the last two years and I keep coming back,” Harms said. “I’m coming back next year. I can easily stop because I’m at retirement age, but I’m not planning to go anywhere.”