Jeremy Timmerman loves being present for students’ proudest moments and sharing their stories as the communication manager for the Bibb County School District. Since graduating with a journalism degree from Mercer University in 2008, he has made a career out of storytelling.
Timmerman, who is originally from Dearing, said he struggled with his classes and had a hard time focusing as a Mercer freshman. At the encouragement of a Pi Kappa Phi fraternity brother, he took a journalism class his second semester and enjoyed it. He’s since learned that he has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
“Journalism was the short-term bursts of attention that I needed,” he said. “It allowed me to go to games for work, and that was really appealing to me because I loved sports.”
While a Mercer student, he worked as a freelance sports writer and then a part-time sports clerk for The (Macon) Telegraph. Timmerman said he is grateful for the opportunities that former Sports Editor Daniel Shirley gave him early on. In addition, journalism professor Dr. Jay Black anticipated the changing world of journalism and prepared him to learn new skills beyond reporting on the fly, such as photography.
“Macon and Mercer have been really key for helping me grow personally and professionally, and Daniel and Jay were a big part of that,” he said.
Timmerman joined the staff at the Aiken Standard in South Carolina in 2010, where he worked on the copy desk and also covered football games. The following year, he won first place in spot news reporting for daily newspapers with circulation under 20,000 in the South Carolina Press Association awards.
In 2012, he became a full-time sports reporter and served in that capacity for two years. After he and wife Jessi, a 2008 Mercer graduate, had their first child, Timmerman started looking for jobs with more regular hours and landed the education reporter job at The Telegraph, where former Senior Editor Oby Brown took him under his wing.
“Education really spoke to me. It was something that was really important to me, being a part of that and being able to tell those stories. I really appreciated that (The Telegraph) took a chance on me. Covering education was not an easy job. It was not simple work, but I ended up being pretty good at it,” he said.
He earned another first place award, this time in education news reporting in the daily division A category in the 2016 Georgia Press Association awards. Later that year, Timmerman had the opportunity to join the communications department at the Bibb County School District.
“My kids were starting to get to school age. Even working on the news side, I didn’t feel like that schedule was conducive to being the kind of parent and husband I wanted to be,” said Timmerman, who now has four children, ages 12, 10, 6 and almost 5. “I really wanted to take a chance to do that (school district job), and I’ve enjoyed being part of telling those stories.”
As the communications manager, he acts as the district’s primary webmaster, trains school media specialists to run their websites, and helps manage the district’s social media channels. He also helps with press releases, employee recognition and event planning, and photographs events, especially athletics.
“I’m just proud of the work our department does to make sure the positive stories of our teachers and students and educators are being told,” he said. “At this point in my career, the students and teachers are starting to recognize me. The kids are excited to see me come take pictures of them. Getting to be there for graduations, for those really cool moments … knowing those are memories those kids are going to remember and being part of it, that’s really cool for me.”
The Bibb County district has won nearly 70 Georgia School Public Relations Association Awards in eight years, and Timmerman’s photos received Best in Category honors in the 2017-18 and 2021-22 contests.
In addition, Timmerman organized the district’s first Bibb County Education Foundation Golf Tournament in 2023. Following the third annual event this spring, the event has raised more than $30,000 to support students and teachers in the district.
While Timmerman loves his work, he wants to be defined by the “whole of his life” rather than only his job.
“Right now, my biggest thing is my family,” he said. “I have always wanted to position myself on the professional side to use my skills but do it in a way that I can be the best father and husband that I can be. I want to hone my skill set that lets me provide for my family but also be there for my family. I want my kids to thrive, and I want to be a part of it.”
