baltimore City Educator
2024-2025 Maryland Teacher of the Year Kat Locke-Jones
Congratulations to 2024-2025 Maryland Teacher of the Year Kat Locke-Jones, a Baltimore City 7th grade English language arts teacher! She is passionate about teaching students to write and tell their own stories as an academic exercise and as a way to find and shine a light on themselves. She is co-founder of SL24, a mental health advocacy initiative and Sean’s House, a free resource for young adults ages 14–24 that provides a space to find support, make friends, practice self-care, learn new coping skills, and lead an empowered life.
“As educators, we get the honor of being mirrors and candles. We get to hold the mirror back to our students so they can see their own light even if it comes years later. And we get to be the candle—the light that reminds them that happiness can be found even in the darkest of times. To be a mirror and a candle means not just teaching our kids where to put a semi-colon, but what that semi-colon means; there is a continuation…their story isn’t over.”
Watch her speech to the delegates at MSEA’s Representative Assembly: