Mrs. Houdeshell is a 1964 graduate of Northmont High School. Jennifer was the first art teacher hired at Northmont Junior High. In her first year at Northmont, she held a large art exhibit of students’ work near the end of the term to celebrate her young artists’ talent. This event became a Northmont tradition, showcasing hundreds of student paintings, drawings, sculptures and hand-pulled prints. Jennifer resides in Florida and as a teacher, artist, woman of faith and activist has made a difference in the quality of the lives of thousands of individual children, teens and adults, as well as making a difference in her community. She has empowered students of all ages, helping them discover gifts many didn’t know they had, as well as helping them develop those gifts. Throughout her teaching career at various Florida schools, she received over 25 awards which she hung in her office to help new students and their parents feel confident in her before they got to know her. Jennifer has also received artistic recognition over the years with her art being selected for exhibitions in galleries and museums. She has had two solo exhibits of her many paintings, the most recent in 2020 when 24 of her painting titled “Faces of Human Trafficking” were exhibited for two months at a cultural center in Tampa. Due to her deep concern about the issue of human trafficking, Jennifer was on the Freedom 7 Human Trafficking Task Force and founded an organization called Helpers of People Enslaved (HOPE) in Volusia County to raise awareness, help in prevention, and raise funds for shelter beds for survivors, as well as to provide assistance to local survivors. Mrs. Houdeshell also has a history of working to help the homeless and families in need and for many years taught art classes at a day shelter for the homeless. Jennifer is a member of the Hillsborough Organization of Progress and Equality and serves as a Team Lead in the organization. There are 24 churches and a mosque in the organization, all working hard for justice in her county as well as affordable housing, the elimination of racial profiling, civil citations in lieu of arrests for children, no jail for the inability to pay minor driving associated fees, a Recovery-through-Work Clubhouse for the severely mentally ill, and climate issues of water quality, flooding and pollution. In 2002, after completing 17 years of full time teaching in the public schools of Ohio and Florida, Jennifer opened her own sole proprietorship, “Jennifer Thomas Houdeshell, Fine Art and Illustration”. Jennifer Thomas Houdeshell has made a difference in many thousands of lives over the years and has no intention of stopping her work as long as she lives. Her artwork, her teaching and her volunteer work are her affirmations of life and the power of love.