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Steamboat Springs — Kenny Kendall's love of acting began as a fourth-grader in Steamboat Springs.

Kendall is the theater program director at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. In the past academic year - his first at the school - he was one of three recipients of the 2009 Joel Mack Award, an honor bestowed after a vote by students.

Nearly 20 years ago, Kendall was cast as the lead in "The Runaway Snowman" at Strawberry Park Elementary School. Kendall tore up his knee during gym class a week before that musical opened. He asked his doctor if he could still act in his first performance after having surgery.

"That was it," he said. "My passion was born. I became 'Happy,' the runaway snowman in a full leg brace and crutches."

Kendall, 28, was also one of four finalists for Northeastern Junior College's Rising Star Award earlier this year. The award recognizes "outstanding new instructors" who have been at the junior college less than five years, in the areas of program development and classroom instruction.

Born in Washington, Penn., Kendall moved to Steamboat with his family in 1989, when he was 8 years old.

Steamboat Springs High School Assistant Principal Marty Lamansky - whom Kendall said taught him everything he knows about speech when Lamansky taught that class at the high school - said he wasn't surprised to hear Kendall excelled in his first year in the classroom.

"I can see him having that energy and enthusiasm needed to hook students in and to enjoy what he's doing," Lamansky said. "If he's gotten that passion for teaching, it comes through, and students respond to that."

Lamansky, formerly a longtime coach of the high school speech team, said Kendall was "heavily involved" in the high school's speech and drama department, participating in competitions and appearing in a number of plays. He said Kendall was a great student and loved performing.

Kendall moved to Spanish Forks, Utah, after his sophomore year at the high school, but already had discovered his passion.

He earned a bachelor's degree in theater arts from Weber State in Ogden, Utah. And he went on to earn a master's of fine arts in acting from the Theatre Conservatory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Kendall spent the next two years as a professional actor performing in Shakespearian plays and musicals. Playing the male lead in one of those musicals, Madame X, he met his future wife, Stephanie Myer, who played the female lead.

But Kendall said he wanted a job with stability and something that provided benefits. A friend suggested he become a teacher.

"I've always had a desire to teach. I've always loved teaching," said Kendall, who taught privately and for a studio after graduate school. "Forty applications later, I got a job in Sterling."

Kendall said he's wanted to get back to Colorado since he moved to Utah to finish high school and being offered the job was his first viable opportunity, so he jumped at the chance.

He's teaching 18 credit hours this semester. Some of those classes include public speaking, theater appreciation, acting, voice and articulation, stage movement and theater history. He also directs a couple of plays a year and sponsors two clubs.

Kendall said he doesn't sleep much, but he loves his job.

He said the best part is having the opportunity to introduce people in Sterling, a rural community in the northeastern part of the state, to good art and good theater - things they may not have been greatly exposed to before. But there's another advantage to his job as a teacher.

"Seeing students get that 'aha' moment when the light bulb goes off, I love those moments," he said.

Kendall's mother and stepfather, Luann and Gar Williams, operate Special Service & Supply in Steamboat and live in Craig. Kendall said about five or six times a year, he makes it back to Steamboat - where he discovered his life's passion.