Retired Fort Thomas Educator Receives National Award

Retired Fort Thomas Teacher, Betty Hill, Selected for Outstanding Service to Communities and Youth 

Betty Hill, a retired Johnson Elementary teacher from the Fort Thomas Independent Schools, has won the With Our Youth! Award, a national recognition of the outstanding volunteer work of retired teachers to improve the lives of America's youth. The award program is run by  NRTA, AARP's Educator Community.

In its eighteenth year, the NRTA With Our Youth! award program recognizes retired educator volunteers who are addressing the specific needs of young Americans and their local communities. After spending a career educating and nurturing children, retired teachers remain a powerful, steady and respected presence for children in the nation's communities.

Hill is a long-time volunteer with Family Promise of Northern Kentucky, an organization that shelters homeless families with the help of local churches. For the past ten years, Hill has worked to ensure children have a safe, warm home. She shops for groceries to ensure the children have healthy meals, delivers a cake and organizes a celebration for every child's birthday, helps facility maintenance ensuring access to the building and cleaning, and serves as an overnight host to help with middle-of-the-night emergencies for the children and family members.

Hill uses her 31 years classroom experience to work directly with the children to make them feel comfortable, safe and empowered.

"They are retired from the classroom, but Kentucky teachers keep working for children and their communities," said Tim Abrams, Kentucky Retired Teachers Association executive director. "We’re so proud of Betty for this prestigious recognition, and we’re also proud of all the retired teachers in Kentucky who continue giving the their hearts, time and talent to our children.”

In 2017, KRTA retired educators volunteered nearly 910,000 hours in Kentucky.  According to Independent Sector, the value of these volunteer hours is nearly $22 million.



Photo: Betty Hill (center), a retired teacher from Johnson Elementary in the Fort Thomas Independent Schools district, receives the With Our Youth! Award from (left) Tim Abrams, executive director of the Kentucky Retired Teachers Association (KRTA) and (right) Harold Wilson, KRTA president-elect.