Susan Harris-Boring, the 2025 DODEA teacher of the year, looks at notes her sixth grade students post in her classroom at Kaiserslautern Middle School in Germany. The notes are about current events, which Harris-Boring uses to help her students practice writing. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Susan Harris-Boring rarely stays in one place when teaching sixth graders language arts at Kaiserslautern Middle School.

She starts at a desk as students line up to show her writing drafts about their career goals. Later on, she’s circling the room while checking everyone’s progress. She pulls up a chair to offer a student some extra help.

“Nice, look at that, that’s lovely, I’m very impressed with that,” she says.

In just her sixth year of teaching, Harris-Boring, 46, has been named the 2025 Department of Defense Education Activity Teacher of the Year.

Winning was a complete surprise, she said. Teachers and students at Kaiserslautern Middle School celebrated the award with her at an assembly earlier this month.

Harris-Boring will enter the National Teacher of the Year competition and be recognized at a White House ceremony sometime next year.

“I am excited for the opportunity to take what is going on in Europe, what is going on in the Kaiserslautern district, to showcase and highlight that … and get some of the voices of these military-connected kids out,” she said.

She also gets to take a semester-long sabbatical to design and implement a project of choice, which is something she’s still choosing.

Harris-Boring’s “profound belief that every student deserves to feel valued and respected creates an environment that encourages both personal and academic growth,” DODEA director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez said in a statement.

Her students notice that enthusiasm.

Susan Harris-Boring helps students with their writing on Oct. 1, 2024, during one of five sixth grade language arts classes she teaches at Kaiserslautern Middle School in Germany. She was recently named the 2025 DODEA teacher of the year. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

“I love that she’s always understanding and she’s always fun, and always excited, and she’s always ready to help,” said Colt Lokey, 11. “And she always uses empathy in what she says. She helps me a lot and understands how I need to write.”

Harris-Boring honed her writing skills while earning bachelor’s degrees in journalism and film studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The spouse of a retired Air Force master sergeant, Harris-Boring bounced around working small journalism jobs and in film production while her husband was active duty.

“With every PCS, it became more difficult” to find a career, she said, referring to the military acronym for changing assignments every few years. “You have to start over again.”

She started volunteering in her classroom years ago because of her daughter, who graduated earlier this year from Kaiserslautern High School.

“I stepped into the door of her elementary school, and it was where I was supposed to be,” she said. “I love working with kids.”

Nine years ago, the family landed in Germany. Harris-Boring earned a master’s degree in teaching and began working as a paraprofessional for DODEA, before eventually getting a full-time job as a middle school social studies and language arts teacher.

In 2021, Harris-Boring volunteered to teach English to Afghans passing through Germany during Operation Allies Refuge, earning a public service commendation medal from the U.S. Army.

One of her goals is to get students to enjoy writing as much as she does.

“I am constantly telling them anything they ever want to achieve in life, if they can figure out how to express themselves with the written word … there’s nothing that they can’t achieve,” she said.

It takes lots of practice and sometimes the students see writing as a chore.

“We have to flip that thinking,” Harris-Boring said. “It’s a challenge to get them to take ownership, to be proud of the words that they compose.

“Speaking is very important but the written word is permanent. Writing — the ability to express yourself — is truly a superpower.”

Sixth graders in Susan Harris-Boring's language arts class wait for help with a writing assignment on Oct. 1, 2024, at Kaiserslautern Middle School in Germany. Harris-Boring was recently named the 2025 DODEA teacher of the year. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)