Regional 2026 Golden Owl Award winner JR Zinner has been an educator for 26 years. Provided photo
For 26 years, Western Hills High School (Franklin County) agriculture teacher JR Zinner has built a classroom that promotes curiosity and innovative learning, earning recognition as a regional Golden Owl Award winner.
The Golden Owl Award is an honor presented by the Kentucky Future Farmers of America (FFA) Foundation. The award recognizes agriculture educators for their contributions in helping shape the next generation of leaders. Recipients can be nominated by students, colleagues and supporters.
Growing up, Zinner was always involved in agriculture through 4-H, a youth development organization managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and showing sheep with his family.
“I was a product of 4-H … I was very active in 4-H clubs and activities,” he said.
Zinner was also surrounded by education as his father taught industrial arts and his mother worked in special education.
“I knew that I was interested in education … and I knew that I was interested in some type of education that got me outside of the classroom,” he said.
He went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degree in vocational agriculture education from the University of Kentucky and later completed his Rank I through the National Board Certification program.
Zinner said he focuses on developing thinkers inside his classroom.
“I try to promote a sense of curiosity and using your critical thinking skills,” he said. “I like to expose students to something that they didn’t think was on their radar.”
Zinner teaches a wide range of courses like animal science, ag mechanics, aquaculture, equine science and veterinary science and believes in providing hands-on experiences.
“Doing a lot of hands-on activities in my classroom is something I enjoy… watching students learn as a technique for them,” he said.
Zinner believes the best learning happens when students can take concepts they learned in class and turn them into real experiences. For example, in his animal science classes, students learn anatomy through creative activities like building paper-mâché models to identify bones and organs and in the mechanics lab, they work directly with plumbing, electricity, welding and engines.
“Let them take it and celebrate it … that’s a cool thing we get to do as ag teachers,” he said.
Community partnerships are an important part of Western Hills’ agriculture program.
Zinner’s students worked with the Franklin County Soil Conservation District to prepare and distribute free trees to residents. The school’s greenhouse program also brings the community in, giving students the chance to grow plants and open the greenhouse to the public to interact with customers throughout the spring.
Zinner has also built relationships with Kentucky State University’s aquaculture and research programs.
“Over the 20 years or so, I’ve been lucky enough to develop those friendships,” he said.
For Zinner, being named a Golden Owl Award winner is meaningful because he said it came from someone who believed in his work.
“You can’t help but feel really good … it came across my desk because somebody else thought I should be nominated,” he said.
Professionally, he said the award is a reminder of the impact he’s made during his career.
“You’ve been teaching for a long time and you get an accolade like this, and it’s like, you know what? That’s pretty cool,” he said.
After more than two decades in the classroom, Zinner remains committed to the same mission that brought him into education.
“Everything we do is about helping them grow,” he said. “We want them to come back to the community.”
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