Congratulations to Hampstead Hill Academy’s Kat Locke-Jones on her selection as the 2024-25 Maryland Teacher of the Year! This coveted Maryland State Department of Education honor was announced at a gala event on Friday, October 4th in Hunt Valley with her Hampstead Hill colleagues and husband Nick Jones, a teacher at REACH Partnership School, celebrating with her.
Ms. Locke-Jones, who teaches 7th grade English, received the Baltimore City Teacher of the Year Award at the end of the 2023-24 school year. She is the second Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) teacher to receive this prestigious award. In 2021, Wyatt Oroke from City Springs Elementary / Middle School won. Ms. Locke-Jones is also the fifth Baltimore City Public Schools teacher to win since 2016.
Each teacher selected for this recognition for public school districts across the state was in the running for Maryland Teacher of Year, an honor Ms. Locke-Jones—her students and colleagues fondly nicknamed her “LoJo”—did not expect to receive.
My goal every single day is just to make students laugh. My professional career goals are what they have always been: to be a teacher. It’s amazing to be honored, but I know that the reason why I’m Maryland Teacher of the Year is because Hampstead Hill is what really makes this all possible. There can be a focus on test scores but that happens because we have an amazing middle school team, programs like Leaders Go Places, and are a Restorative Practices school.
Thanking the Teachers Who Made a Difference in Her Life
In her acceptance speech, Ms. Locke-Jones thanked the many teachers throughout her life, from her siblings, to the professors at the University of Delaware to her Hampstead Hill Academy family and her husband. “You are the best humans I know,” she told her HHA colleagues at the gala. “For as many times as we’ve had passionate and extremely transformational conversations around cheesesteaks, we’ve spent hours analyzing data and advocating for kids. I really believe we teach the hardest working and coolest kids in Baltimore city. And that’s a representation of the work of each and every person that steps foot into our building.”
Ever the teacher, she ended her acceptance speech imploring everyone to send a message to a teacher who changed your life. “Because I will spend the rest of my time thanking those who changed mine,” she said.
A Passionate Mental Health Advocate
One of Ms. Locke-Jones’ differentiators is her commitment to the mental health of her students, a focus she carries nationally through her work as a co-founder and board member of SL24 Unlocke the Light Foundation. Her family created the foundation, based in their hometown of Newark, Del., in memory of her youngest brother Sean following his suicide.
SL24 focuses on providing education and resources for young people who are facing depression, self-injury, and suicide. Last spring, the Jennifer Hudson Show recognized the foundation’s work. Read the June 2024 Baltimore Banner interview with Ms. Locke-Jones about SL24.
“Addressing mental health is something that I do outside the classroom, but it’s also something that is innate inside the classroom because teaching is an extremely human and personal experience,” she explains. “Some of the most magical teachers bring themselves into the classroom in ways where students can see that they are human. It’s amazing to get to experience the power of vulnerability with my students.”
This connection, she adds, helps them better connect to the characters that they read. “They’re able to see themselves inside the text and able to understand that they’re a part of this world that we create,” adds Ms. Locke-Jones. On the Monday after the announcement, members of the Hampstead Hill’s boys soccer team walked down the school hallways cheering for her as if she’d won a state sports championship and handed her flowers.
She laughs that there were not enough gala tickets for her large Irish Catholic family, her family was Facetimed at the gala for the announcement. The Locke family is planning a celebration in Newark, Del. on Main Street. (She and all her siblings attended the University of Delaware.)
Ms. Locke-Jones now competes for the National Teacher of the Year award in April. She will spend the upcoming year as a national speaker and advisor, joining other state winners at meetings and events hosted by the National Teacher of the Year Program. Trips include going to the Google Education Campus in California, NASA Space Camp in summer 2025, and a 2024 holiday tour of the White House and state dinner in the spring with other state winners.
Enjoy the news:
Facts About Ms. Locke-Jones
- She’s the second BCP teacher in four years to win the award. Wyatt Oroke, teacher at City Springs Elementary / Middle School won in 2021. He was also Ms. Locke-Jones’ roommate in 2013 when they taught together in the AmeriCorps program prior to them both taking positions at BCP schools.
- Her other AmeriCorps roomie? Matt Cobb, her academic coach and colleague at Hampstead Hill.
- She thinks that she might be the first-ever pregnant Maryland Teacher of the Year. Her fourth child and first girl is due in November. This will be the first Locke-Jones’ child not born on Christmas Eve (son Mac, 4, shares a birthday with two-year-old twins Thomas and Seamus). Her boys were most excited about the balloons she brought home from the gala.
- She earned her BA in English Education from the University of Delaware and a MEd from Johns Hopkins University.
We’re so proud of you, Ms. Locke-Jones!
