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Two Asbury Park teachers have been selected as the VFW’s Monmouth County Teachers of the year. Both men — Gary Kilmer and Rev. Kevin Williams — were recognized at last night’s board of education meeting.

Representatives of Veterans for Foreign Wars [VFW] Post 1333 in Asbury Park attended the meeting to present Kilmer and Williams with the awards.

“Every American child deserves a quality education so that he can enjoy economic security and take an active role as an American citizen,” past VFW commander Lou Parisi said. “Thankfully, in Asbury Park, we have the assistance of a great board of education and great administrators, led by Dr. [Denise] Lowe, and first and foremost, our teachers — teachers that legally are in loco parentis. They take the role of the parent, a privilege they fulfill with honor in this district.”

Kilmer and Williams were honored as the Asbury Park VFW’s teachers of the year, and they also won the Monmouth County VFW teacher of the year contest, Parisi said. The county’s 16 VFWs voted to give those two the award. Within the next month, they will receive the county-wide award, which will be presented by current Commander George Reed.

“We are so pleased and proud,” Lowe said of Kilmer and Williams. “Several good things happened during my time here. One is definitely Mr. Kilmer [being hired]. Another is Mr. Williams … I’ve attended his class several times, and he’s just a phenomenal teacher.”

Kilmer joined the district recently after having taught an after-school acting program for several years. He’s a full-time theatre and dance instructor, and the school hired him to increase their arts curriculum. He is an Asbury Park resident and a former Broadway performer.

Under Kilmer, the high school’s theater department has flourished, selling out play performances for the first time in recent memory. He’s directed students in “Footloose,” “Backstage,” “The Wiz,” “Charlotte’s Web,” and an upcoming spring performance of “Once on this Island.”

Williams is a second-grade teacher who served in the National Guard for 20 years, finishing at the rank of captain and working as a chaplain. He is the pastor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Presbyterian Church in Neptune, where he’s served since 2009. He focuses on community outreach and working with other churches to coordinate aid efforts, helping with Hurricane Sandy relief efforts and a march for Trayvon Martin.

He started to teach fifth grade in 2002 after having been an in-class support staff member. Williams is known for bestowing titles like “Captain” and “Doctor” on his second-grade students to help them pictures themselves at a higher level, according to a release from the school.

The two were also honored at the city council meeting on Jan. 16.

“The power of one caring individual in the lives of our young people cannot be defeated by gangs, drugs or neglect,” Mayor Ed Johnson said at that meeting. “The power that each one of us has to make a positive impact in our young people’s lives stands before you now.”

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[Pictured above, from left: Superintendent Dr. Denise Lowe; Gary Kilmer; Rev. Kevin Williams; board president Angela Ahbez-Anderson; VFW commander George Reed; past VFW commander Lou Parisi.]

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