Theatre Alumna Wins National Teaching Award
You might think that meeting Lin Manuel Miranda was the high point of alumna KoKo Thornton’s recent trip to New York City, where last month she received the Inspiring Teacher Award at the 2025 National High School Musical Theatre (“Jimmy”) Awards.
Certainly, being introduced to the Broadway superstar on the red carpet was exciting and “a little surreal,” Thornton ’97 said. So were meeting awards ceremony host Josh Groban and delivering her acceptance speech on the stage of Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre, where The Lion King has been running since 2006.
Above left, Lin Manuel Miranda with KoKo Thornton. Above right, Thornton with host Josh Groban and her co-winner, Elena Ferrante-Martin.
“But the best part of the weekend for me was that I was getting inundated by texts and messages from all these students who were telling me how proud they were of me, and that meant everything,” Thornton said. “It was heartwarming, overwhelming. That’s why I do what I do. If they feel like I deserve it, that’s enough for me!”
Founded in 2009 and named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the Jimmy Awards recognize and nurture excellence in musical theatre performance among high school students. Nationally, some 2,300 high schools participate though regional affiliate programs (Charlotte-area students compete in the “Blumeys” through the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center). Regional winners travel to New York City to participate in the national competition, which includes coaching sessions, training, and rehearsals led by Broadway professionals and a culminating production where winners are announced.
Each year, participating students can nominate a teacher for the following year’s Inspiring Teacher Award, which “honors educators for providing valuable guidance and encouragement to their students and school communities.” Members of The Broadway League, which runs the Jimmy Awards program, then select two educators for the award.
Thornton was nominated by her former student Conor Kruger, who participated in the 2024 Jimmy Awards. He was her fifth student to go to the national competition from Enloe Magnet High School in Raleigh, where Thornton taught theatre for 24 years. She retired from teaching last June and now serves as marketing and outreach coordinator for Wake County Public Schools system magnet schools.
“At Enloe Magnet High School, I was blessed with supportive colleagues, administrators, and a community that values public schools and arts in education,” Thornton said in her acceptance speech. “But the greatest gift was 24 years of amazing students who filled my life with inspiration and joy. I’ve loved them, learned from them, and did my best to help them see their potential as humans, artists and creators.”
Thornton grew up in Raleigh and received a North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship to attend UNC Charlotte. She earned a Bachelor of Creative Arts degree in 1997, concentrating in theatre education.
“It was a great experience for me. I knew I wanted to be a theatre teacher and I felt like I got the education I needed to excel.”
Thornton said she benefitted from the university’s small and nurturing theatre program, where she was costume shop manager, and the vibrancy of Charlotte’s cultural scene. When The Phantom of the Opera came to Charlotte for a three-month run at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, for example, she worked as a dresser for the show.
The Inspiring Teacher Award was not Thornton’s first big honor. In 2024, she received The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, the state’s highest civilian honor awarded by the governor to “persons who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through their exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments.”
But for Thornton, it’s not the awards that inspire her; it’s her students.
“Teachers are not teaching because they want any kind of accolades or awards or anything like that,” Thornton told ABC 11 Eyewitness News after returning from NYC. “My goal as an educator was to help my students see their own potential inside of them.”
Awards ceremony photos by Rebecca J. Michelson.