Jenlane (Gee) Matt

Jenlane retired in 2017 after 38 years teaching exclusively with the Empire Union School District. She was the sole 1989 California Teacher of the Year and went on to represent our state in Washington, DC as a National Finalist. That same year, she was selected by the Milken Foundation to be one of the recipients of the prestigious national Milken Educator Award.

Highlights of Jenlane’s career include instructing students about the dangers of substance abuse and its prevention, mentoring teachers new to the profession, serving on the statewide accountability report card committee under Superintendent Bill Honig, collaborating on editorial boards including Scholastic News, fostering interest in space science through an after school chapter of the National Young Astronauts Program sponsored by NASA, and cultivating stewardship of our earth through the Salmonids in the Classroom program.

In her final years of instruction, Jenlane experienced immense joy helping Afghan children bridge the culture and language gap through her newcomers program. These traumatized and displaced children from war torn Afghanistan began the process of adjusting to their life in America in the calmness of her classroom. As a child of immigrants herself, Jenlane never forgot how transformative public education would prove to be in time. Together they learned so much about how we are more alike than different despite our background and circumstances.

In her retirement, Jenlane continues her support of fostering literacy through involvement with the Friends of the Modesto Library and Friends of the Sutter County Library. Her work with the CATOY Foundation has included the honor of participation on the selection committee and joining in professional development days. Each year Jenlane looks forward with anticipation to meeting and welcoming our newest awardees into the CATOY family!