Jennifer Combs Henson graduated from Beavercreek High School in 1991 and because of her excellent ACT score, coupled with her athletic skill in tennis, was offered scholarships to several colleges.
“I didn’t think of most of the schools as places that would match what I wanted academically,” Henson said. “I ended up going to Xavier University with a half tuition scholarship and walked on the tennis team.”
Besides tennis, Henson said another passion became teaching. She majored in education with a specialty in English. After graduation, she was hired to teach English at Talawanda High School and later, she taught at Winton Woods High School in Cincinnati.
“Even then I realized that ACT scores were holding people back in some ways,” Henson said. “Whether it was sports related or not, they needed help.”
While she was teaching, Henson ended up working with a star football player who was being courted by several well-known colleges. He was a talented athlete, but he struggled academically. Henson’s principal and superintendent asked her to work with him.
“I didn’t really know what I was doing in terms of prepping someone for the ACT,” Henson said. “But as an educator, I knew how to dissect a test and look at existing skills.”
Credit: Photo by Jane Pirman
Credit: Photo by Jane Pirman
Henson figured out how to best help her student and when he retested, he was able to get the score he wanted and needed. After that success, Henson’s reputation spread and other teachers and coaches began talking with her about working with other athletes, not only at her school but in other schools as well.
She began working after school and on weekends at her new “side gig” – ACT prep – meeting students at public coffee shops and restaurants. Then in 2014, she moved with her husband to Houston, Texas, where she applied for teaching positions.
“I was named teacher of the year at Winton Woods in 2012,” Henson said. “I got a lot of interviews because of this.”
Credit: Photo by Tonya Cooper
Credit: Photo by Tonya Cooper
But since no one in Texas knew of her ACT prep work, she began tutoring students back in Ohio, via Skype.
“Once I started tutoring this way, I realized that the method didn’t matter,” Henson said. “I was able to help students anywhere they were located.”
By her second year in Texas, she was turning potential students away. Henson loved working with the students though, especially during their final year in high school, and helping propel them into a successful future.
“I finally quit classroom teaching in 2016 so I could do the ACT work full time,” Henson said. “That was very scary since I had been a teacher for 22 years!”
But Henson knew in her heart that the program and services she offered were very necessary and there was a growing need for them. Her business evolved into visiting schools and hosting workshops. Teachers and administrators tended to gravitate towards her because of her certified teaching credentials.
In 2025, Henson and her husband, Dan, moved back to Ohio and settled in Milford. Both have jobs that are more “portable” and so they could live anywhere. Since Dan is a Moeller graduate, their son Augie wanted to follow in his footsteps and attend the school. Their daughter, Etta, is now a volleyball player at a college in Arizona.
“I mostly do one on one tutoring, which is how I started,” Henson said. “That’s where I can make the biggest impact.”
For a few years around the global pandemic in 2020, colleges stopped requiring admission test scores. Henson said she is finding that most schools have now returned to testing and requiring scores to apply for admission.
“Ultimately, colleges wants students to stay in school and graduate,” Henson said. “And they have found that many kids who didn’t take admission tests couldn’t do the work required.”
Henson works with students and encourages them to take at least one real or mock ACT test to determine where their skills are at the beginning and what level of support; they may need to improve those skills and ultimately their scores.
“We do a lot of practice sessions and work on strategy,” Henson said. “I get asked a lot about any tricks to help improve scores. But the bottom line is that there aren’t any tricks.”
Many parents have discovered that just answering ten more questions correctly on the ACT might get their students college scholarship dollars, making the time and money spent in tutoring well worth it.
“Families should research how close they are to scholarship money,” Henson said. “The return on investment to get this money may well pay off in a big way. It’s a no brainer.”
For more information, log on to jenhensonactprep.com.
About the Author
