Dobyns-Bennett teacher celebrates Tennessee Teacher of the Year title

KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — Dobyns-Bennett High School’s Bryan Kerns returned to the classroom Monday morning after being recognized as the 2024-25 Tennessee Teacher of the Year.

Kerns taught math at the high school for more than 15 years before pioneering the school’s Fire Program, which he now runs.

“I was a full math teacher and I had wildland firefighting on my resume,” Kerns told News Channel 11. “It snuck into my math class sometimes because I wanted to tell a cool story. Then, students were interested, and I said, ‘Well, we’ll have a club after school a couple times a month.'”

As the club’s popularity grew, the school added fire classes for Kerns to teach one by one. Now, six years later, he’s teaching his first full schedule of six fire science classes.

State Commissioner of Education Lizette Reynolds expressed her excitement to name Kerns as Teacher of the Year during the 65th year of the awards.

“For the past 65 years, our state has recognized awardees for serving as models on how to support and develop students for future success that goes beyond the classroom, and we look forward to continuing to elevate and honor our outstanding educators for years to come,” Reynolds said in a release.

Kerns returned to the classroom Monday after he was awarded at a Friday night banquet in Nashville. Kerns said he was surprised to find himself emotional when he heard his name called for the award.

“On my way up I’m like, ‘I’m going to cry,'” Kerns said. “All these other people [having] cried. I’m like, ‘I’m not going to cry about this’, so I took a deep breath. I was like, ‘No, no, don’t cry about this.’ So I go up and I gave my speech and it was awesome.”

Kerns’ classroom is filled with equipment that he’s had donated as he’s built the program, including wildland firefighter backpacks worn in the 2017 movie “Only the Brave.” The only piece of equipment the school has had to buy is the class water pump.

“Something this unique is definitely not something easy to build,” Kerns said. “So to have my administration and leadership say, ‘Sure, yeah, go do this.’ If you don’t have that, it would still be a club just kind of hanging out.”

Kerns is now using his experience as a wildland firefighter in Utah to inspire his students, a few dozen of whom have gone on to pursue careers in emergency services–but he said the program is about more than simply encouraging a career as a firefighter.

“Some of that stuff is those intangible things that hopefully are making our community better through this program of teaching fire, whether they’re firefighters or not,” Kerns said. “Hopefully all 75 kids I get to teach this semester about fire and emergency services in our community are happier and honored, more honorable adults, whether they’re in fire or not.”

Kerns will serve on the Tennessee Department of Education’s Teacher Advisory Council for the remainder of this school year, alongside the other eight finalists. He is also eligible to compete for the National Teacher of the Year title.

Last year’s winner Missy Testerman is also from Northeast Tennessee. She teaches English as a Second Language in Rogersville, and she went on to win the national competition.

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