Kim Jones

Kimberly Jones is the 2023 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year. She has been a high school English teacher at Chapel Hill High School in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools District 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 texts and events and establish their relevance to diverse 21st-century learners. Kim works to empower students to use their learning to build positive, productive, and empowered futures for themselves and their communities. 

Kimberly 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, the NC Attorney General’s Dogwood Award, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Equity Equals Excellence Award, the Chapel Hill Public School Foundation Sullivan Chair for Excellence in High School English Education, and the WCHL Chapelboro Hometown Hero Award to name a few.

Kimberly has been married to her husband, Joshua, since 2019 and is the proud stepmom of two sons. She enjoys serving her community in a number of equity and advocacy-focused non-profits. She loves traveling with her family, quality time with great friends, reading, true crime podcasts, crafting, and helping her husband renovate their new home. 

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