Henrico's Top Teachers – Jenny Murphy, Maybeury Elementary School, fifth grade

The bus had broken down. About 30 fifth graders and a few parent chaperones were stranded on the side of Interstate-81. The DVD player was broken, and after an hours-long field trip with no way back home, the kids started to cry.

But fifth-grade teacher Jenny Murphy immediately sprung into action. She encouraged the teary-eyed fifth graders to keep their spirits up by playing different games and pulling out a book to read aloud. Murphy stepped into “mom mode,” making sure each student found a way home, and stayed on the side of the road for over six hours until every single one of them made it back.

“Earlier that day, I was telling the students that this will be a field trip that they never forget. Little did I know that it will literally be the trip they never forget,” she said. “So when the bus broke down, I just went into, ‘Okay, here we go, I told you this is going to be a trip you never forgot. The magic just keeps on happening.’”

Murphy has been teaching for more than a decade, all of which she spent in Henrico County Public Schools, and is a mom of four, so she knows how to quickly take charge in crisis situations, as one parent put it, and assure her students that no matter what, she will be there for them.

“They’re scared and thinking they’re not going to get home, and I'm sitting with them and talking with them and I’m like, ‘I promise you, I am going to get you home,’” she said. “‘It is okay, you are safe, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. You are with me.’”

Murphy has that same attitude in her fifth grade classroom at Maybeury Elementary, where she has been teaching for the past six years. Murphy is known to be the teacher that gets the louder kids to quiet down, the struggling students to believe in themselves, and the shyer students to come out of their shell.

“I used to be extremely shy, but in her class, I felt comfortable and confident enough to participate," wrote one former student of Murphy’s in a nomination. “She makes you feel good about raising your hand and answering questions and being active in the lessons. She shows up to other school events that her students participate in and cheers us on, even if she doesn’t have to be there.”

Even after the school day ends, Murphy’s week is full of soccer games, musical performances, school plays, and award ceremonies she attends to show her students that she cares about them and all of their accomplishments, no matter how small.

“My students know that I will come back to bat for them, no matter what, I have their back,” Murphy said. “I believe in them, I treat them like I would my own children. And I think just having that rapport with my students helps bring their personalities out, even when they might be shy.”

Murphy herself attended Henrico schools as a kid, including Maybeury Elementary during her own fifth grade year. She also is a fourth generation teacher; her great grandmother was a teacher, and both her grandparents and her mother taught in Henrico schools, making teaching “in her blood.”

But it was at her grandfather’s funeral when she realized how much a teacher can touch their community.

“It was pretty awe-inspiring when my grandfather passed away. We had his memorial service and so many people showed up that weren’t just family,” she said. “I think that was part of why I went into education, like you can do so much with so many people and not even realize.”

Murphy said her class always has a “close-knit, family feel.” She makes sure to celebrate every little victory, whether it is a student overcoming shyness or doing just a little better on a test.

“When I have a kid who’s really struggling in any area and they have that ‘aha’ moment where they look at you with this surprise of like, ‘I get it! I understand it!’ and I’m like, ‘Yes, you do! I knew you could do it!’ That is what gives me the feels,” Murphy said. “They finally believe in themselves what I’ve been saying all along.”

Each year, Murphy helps the fifth grade class of Maybeury put on a flash mob-style final performance for the school talent show. Every student has a part, no matter how small, and Murphy even holds auditions for the different band members, where students can show off their air guitar skills.

This year, the fifth grade class prepared a dance to Jon Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life.” Murphy spent weeks helping the students learn the choreography during recess every day.

“A teacher’s job doesn’t end when the final bell rings, but it usually doesn’t involve more than a dozen hours making paper mache guitars, or weeks of herding kids at recess to go over the choreography she planned out at home in her spare time,” wrote a Maybeury parent. “Dr. Murphy not only puts in countless hours helping out children achieve academic success, but she also brings her work home, pouring her heart into them on her time off, too.”

For the students and families she touched, Murphy’s dedication and unwavering support will be something they never forget.

“My children have been lucky enough to be her students, and I am incredibly grateful for the heart and soul she pours into her career,” another Maybeury parent wrote. “My son thrived in her class and even now that he is in middle school, he looks up to her as a hero, and so do I.”