Austin Amestoy: State education leaders have picked the next Montana Teacher of the Year. The award recognizes excellence in the classroom. This year's recipient is culinary arts teacher Kortney Douma of Belgrade High School. And I've got Ms. Douma here with me now to talk more about the award and what it's like to merge the kitchen and the classroom. Ms. Douma, welcome.
Kortney Douma: Hi, how are you?
Austin Amestoy: Wonderful. So glad to have you here, and congratulations on the honor. First of all, I was hoping you could maybe take us to the moment that you found out that you won the award. Put us in your shoes.
Kortney Douma: Thank you. I was just kind of sitting at lunch on Friday after my interview because sometimes, you know, hindsight's twenty twenty. You overthink your interviews and I just got this email at lunch that was like insane that says I got it and I reread it and I reread it and I was like, holy smokes, this is this is a real deal. So and I ran down to the office where my department head and my principal were and I told them, and it was pretty exciting.
Austin Amestoy: It sounds like you really have built Belgrade High School's culinary program into a pretty amazing success over your time there. The competitive culinary team that you coach has won the state event four years running. You've established a culinary pre-apprenticeship program, and you teach dual enrollment courses at local colleges in culinary. But culinary arts is probably not the first class people think of when they imagine public schools. So why have you invested so much personally in teaching kids to cook? Why does it matter to you?
Kortney Douma: Because I'm wanting to give them life skills and job skills. In all of my classes, I tell them from the very beginning, I'm not here to make you into a chef. I'm here to teach you how to cook healthy foods and also bring these skills to the restaurant industry. I just feel like food is just such a big part of our lives. Like, holidays are based around food if you think about it. Some of your fondest memories are based around foods and meals, and everybody has their favorite dish that their grandma made them. To be able to teach these kids some of these great skills that they can take home with them, make money with it, and develop their own passions is really exciting.
Austin Amestoy: Ms. Douma, I think some people may not know that the Teacher of the Year award also comes with sort of some duties. You know, you become like a representative in a way of the field and of Montana, right, on the on the national stage. And I wanted to ask you something about the nature of the award this year. The state education department and state lawmakers in recent years have really put a lot of emphasis on this career and technical education, exactly the kind of stuff that you do. They're really trying to get more high school students equipped for careers that don't necessarily require a collegiate training. And I'm curious, from your perspective right now, and I know you'll learn a lot more over the next year, do you feel that schools in Montana have the resources that they need to prioritize career and technical education in the way that they're being asked to?
Kortney Douma: I don't think so. Because we are expensive classes, but we are classes that have a direct payout, so to speak, with this education. I feel like there could always be extra help with, especially I'm very fortunate in my classroom. I have an industry type classroom. I have a dish pit, I have gas stoves, I have a hood vent system. A lot of the classrooms in the state, they just have the old-fashioned like single kitchens that they're trying to teach these skills in, and it's really hard. So I really feel like they're kind of stuck where they're trying to teach some of these skills, but they don't really have the equipment to fully get the the whole experience for these students. And and that comes with funding, it comes with remodeling. It's expensive, and I do understand this, but also there's a great value in it. This is where we start those sparks, right? And sometimes we can fuel those fires and it could become something really big. But this is where all those sparks happen, where they get to try out computer tech stuff or welding or, like, child development, is what my partner teacher teaches. She does the human development and stuff, and all of these things that we're teaching, they're kind of on the forefront of needing people to take on these different roles. So yeah, I feel like There needs to be more of an emphasis and more money brought into our CTE programs.
Austin Amestoy: Okay, here's the hard question. What drives your passion for your work?
Kortney Douma: Truly it's to see where these kids take what we learn in class. It's the relationships that I build. And it's really cool to see the fruits of my labor. Does that make sense? Just to see these kids taking this and taking advantage of all these opportunities that I've worked really hard to provide them, and just being awesome humans.
Austin Amestoy: The 2026 Montana Teacher of the Year, Kortney Douma joining us today. Ms. Douma, thank you for your time.
Kortney Douma: Thank you.
