Writer
Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Susan is a product of the Franklin County school district, Virginia Tech and the University of Kentucky. After earning her journalism degree, she began a 15-year stint as a newspaper photographer, sports writer and page designer. She’s been at the Kentucky Department of Education and Kentucky Teacher since 2007. She and her husband, Mark, have a 5-year-old daughter, Holly, who attends school in the Frankfort Independent school district.

Writer
Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Matthew credits his 11th-grade journalism teacher at Seneca High School in Louisville, Ky., for helping him find what has turned out to be his life’s work. Following a more than decade-long career as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Kentucky and North Carolina, the father of two brought his love for covering education to the Kentucky Department of Education in 2007. Even following his move to governmental communication, Matthew still works by the motto “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

Photographer
Amy Wallot
amy.wallot@education.ky.gov

Amy always enjoyed school and wanted to be a teacher herself. After working on the high school yearbook and college newspaper at Eastern Michigan University, she decided photojournalism was a better fit. She worked at newspapers in Kentucky and Alabama and now her career has come full circle working as a photographer for the Kentucky Department of Education. She believes she has the best job at KDE; traveling the state to visit, photograph and help spread the word about the best teachers and educational programs Kentucky has to offer.

Graphic Artist
John Boone
john.boone@education.ky.gov

John is a native of Springfield, Ky., and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in art studio. He was a graphic designer for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources for twenty years before moving on to the Kentucky Department of Education and working on Kentucky Teacher since 2005. In his spare time he enjoys family, freelancing, pyrography and the outdoors.