Even as Jimmy Holder pursued a long career in the military, the desire to teach was always in the back of his mind.

Holder is the Navy JROTC instructor at Warren Central High School and is his school’s nominee for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce Secondary Teacher of the Year.

Holder has worked at Warren Central for 10 years and before that, he spent nine years leading the Marine JROTC program at East Marion High School in Columbia. He was a late entry into the teaching profession as he spent the first 20 years of his professional life as an active duty Marine.

“Even while I was in high school and college, I had a thought in my mind that I would want to come back to my home state and teach in a high school environment,” Holder said. “The reason is I had so many teachers who had such a positive impact and influence on me when I was going through my schooling.”

Going from the military to teaching in a high school was difficult, Holder said, as he had to adjust to a completely different environment.

“It was a long and very difficult road,” Holder said. “After serving 20 years in the military, moving from that environment, which is very structured, organized and very regimented in how business is done. To move from that to a high school environment, which is much more organic and much less disciplined and much less regimented took a huge adjustment.”

Nearing 20 years as a teacher, Holder has now been in education almost as long as he was in the military. Over the years, he said he has found a balance between the regiment that was instilled in him during his military career and the reality of being in a high school environment.

“The first few years were extremely difficult because I had an expectation of high school students being willing to respond like active duty Marines would,” Holder said. “As I grew through the years and understood that was never going to happen, we got to a point where we could strike a balance between what my expectations were and what their ability to perform was.”

He may not be teaching math or English to his students, but Holder said his class is equally academic. There is a curriculum prepared by the Navy to teach the students about naval history and naval science. The JROTC program is also working to build leaders and exemplary citizens.

“I am trying to have an impact that inspires and enthuses students to want to excel at whatever they do,” Holder said. “That is really what the goal is. The focus is getting each individual student to develop their leadership and citizenship skills to the highest level possible.”

Holder graduated from Delta State with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice in 1979 and earned his Specialist in Education from Southern Miss in 2011.

“It was a shock,” Holder said of being chosen Warren Central’s teacher of the year. “I did not ever expect for that to happen and it was a really great honor that my fellow teachers and faculty members would be willing to put me forward and say we believe this is one of the best teachers on campus.”

The Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will choose one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon Feb. 21. The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union.

“I would be shocked and I don’t even know how I could fully express how much that would mean to me personally,” Holder said of his reaction if he won the award. “It means that people have faith and confidence in you and they appreciate the service you’re providing.”