Amber Kinnally, a third grade teacher at St. John’s School in Hollywood, Maryland, was already grateful just to be nominated for a 2026 Golden Apple Award for teaching excellence.
Winning the award came as a complete surprise.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington’s Catholic Schools Office presents the Golden Apple Awards each year to recognize outstanding Catholic school educators. Recipients are surprised at their schools with the announcement. At a May 21 dinner, the 10 Golden Apple Award-winning teachers from Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Washington will be presented with a golden apple, and each will receive a $5,000 check from the Donahue Family Foundation, which sponsors the awards.
For Kinnally, the honor carried special meaning in a place that has shaped her life for decades.
A graduate of St. John’s School, she now teaches in the same community where she once learned as a student. Staff members still remember her from those early years. Cindy Pollock, who works in the school cafeteria, recalled serving Kinnally lunch when she was a third grader.
That continuity reflects the close-knit culture at St. John’s, where 218 students are enrolled and many families are connected to the parish.
Now in her 10th year of teaching, all of it in third grade at St. John’s, Kinnally said she always knew she wanted to return.
“When I graduated college, this was really the place I wanted to be,” she said. “Third grade is absolutely where my heart is.”
Her approach to teaching is rooted in a clear sense of mission.
“My favorite part about being a teacher in a Catholic school is being able to share my faith and to pray with my students in our good and our bad times,” Kinnally said. “My goal here is to help them to become saints.”
That focus shapes daily life in her classroom.
Students begin the day in prayer, return to prayer in moments of frustration, and learn about saints throughout the year. During Lent, they take part in a program called “Kindness Like a Saint,” which pairs daily acts of kindness with the lives of saints.
“It is all day, every day in here that we are incorporating our faith,” she said.
Principal Susan McDonough said that faith-centered approach is evident not only in Kinnally’s teaching, but in how she lives.
“She models it for her students day in and day out,” McDonough said, noting that Kinnally creates a student-centered classroom rooted in her love for teaching.
McDonough, who has been at St. John’s since 2001 and became principal in 2013, first knew Kinnally as a student.
“I have witnessed decades of a beautiful spiritual and academic growth in an individual,” she wrote in her recommendation.
In addition to teaching, Kinnally serves as a resource teacher, helping develop Catholic Accommodation Plans and supporting students with diverse learning needs. Father Raymond F. Schmidt, the pastor of St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, wrote that she “dedicates countless hours” to that work and that “our school is a better place because of Amber’s hard work and dedication.”
Students say her impact is felt in the way she teaches and connects with them.
“She makes class very easy… especially math,” said third grader Leonardo Welch, who said her explanations help him understand challenging concepts.
Others pointed to her personality and creativity.
“She’s nice and fun,” said Chloe Young. “She makes games for learning… and she makes sure all of us learn enough.”
Sophia Morley said Kinnally’s classroom is shaped by “her personality… it’s just very fun.”
Parents have also seen her impact extend beyond academics.
Shannon Armsworthy, a former colleague of Kinnally at St. John’s School who now teaches at Father Andrew White, S.J. School in Leonardtown and is also a 2026 Golden Apple Award recipient, said she has seen Kinnally’s impact both as a coworker and a parent.
“Amber was and is a very young and energetic teacher,” Armsworthy wrote. “I always admired how orderly and beautifully organized her classroom was.”
Armsworthy, whose four children have all been taught by Kinnally, said her influence extends beyond academics.
“Amber has made a difference in the lives of each of my children,” she wrote, noting that her youngest son, who previously struggled to enjoy school, “is very happy going to school” after being in Kinnally’s class.
Beyond the classroom, she said Kinnally dedicates significant time to her students through additional roles and activities.
“As a coworker and parent, I am tremendously grateful for all Mrs. Kinnally does to shape the future of every child that comes through her classroom,” Armsworthy wrote.
Kinnally said she hopes her students leave her classroom with both academic confidence and a strong foundation in faith.
“I hope that they leave with confidence in themselves as students, but also as people,” she said. “And that they continue to grow in their faith.”
For Kinnally, the goal is not just what happens in third grade, but what continues long after.
“As a Catholic school teacher, it is my mission to lead them to Heaven,” she wrote in her award essay.
That mission, lived out in daily lessons, quiet moments of prayer and acts of kindness, is what helped lead to her being recognized as a Golden Apple Award-winning teacher.
“I pray that one day my students know me as Mrs. Kinnally,” she wrote, “the teacher that turned my life towards Christ… and led me to Heaven.”
Link to series with Golden Apple teacher profiles:
https://www.cathstan.org/series/2026-golden-apple-teachers-in-archdiocese-of-washington
