Kimberly Jones – 2024 Hooding Speaker

Kimberly Jones is the 2023 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year. She has been a high school English teacher in Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools since 2006.

Kimberly earned her Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s Degree in Education from Wake Forest University.

Kim has spent the majority of her career teaching World Literature courses and has a special dedication to Holocaust and Human Rights education. She serves as a Regional Site Director for TOLI, a National Holocaust and Human Rights education nonprofit, and also works as an education consultant for PBS on the state and national level.

These positions allow Kim to lead and support fellow educators throughout the state and country in building lessons that help students better understand literary, cultural, and historical events, with a focus on cultural relevance for diverse learners. She guides students to use their learning to build positive, productive, and empowered futures for themselves and their communities.

Kim has won numerous awards in her teaching career including recognition by Governor Roy Cooper and the NC African American Heritage Commission for contributions to public education across North Carolina and the country and the NC Attorney General’s Dogwood Award for public service in the field of education.

Kim values every opportunity to talk about the life-changing power of public education and the lifelong impacts of dedicated educators!