Bob Kilmer

Bob Kilmer joined the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Team in July 2020 after a 35-year career as a skilled trades educator at Enumclaw High School in Enumclaw, Washington. A National Board Certified Teacher in career and technical education and a 2017 Grand Prize winner of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, Kilmer has taught construction, architecture, computer-aided design, math, leadership, welding and physical education.

Throughout his teaching career, Kilmer adapted his curriculum regularly to evolving industry trends, created a CTE program geared to at-risk learners and a course called Career and Technology Exploration, earned numerous certifications including from SMART, Google and Microsoft, and produced instructional videos now available to teachers nationwide. In addition to his work in the classroom, Kilmer won awards for his work coaching wrestling and golf, in which he helped Enumclaw’s girls’ team win the state championships.

He has held many administrative and honorary roles including 20-plus years as CTE department chair, 10 years as a district-wide instructional technology leader, helped create standards for staff development and served as the only high school member of his district’s Gates Foundation grant application team, helping earn $2.3 million for his school system. Kilmer earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts from the University of Montana, Western and a master’s degree from City University in education technology.