Theatre alum wins national Inspiring Teacher Award

KoKo Thornton ’97 is the 2025 recipient of the Inspiring Teacher Award, presented at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, known as the Jimmy Awards.

Thornton was nominated by her former student Conor Kruger, who participated in the 2024 Jimmy Awards. He is her fifth student to go to the national competition from Enloe Magnet High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Thornton taught theater for 24 years before retiring last June.  She 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 and 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, who grew up in Raleigh, received a North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship to attend UNC Charlotte. She completed a Bachelor of Creative Arts in 1997, concentrating in theatre education.

“It was a great experience for me. I knew I wanted to be a theater 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.

Founded in 2009 and named for Broadway impresario James M. Nederlander, the Jimmy Awards recognize and nurture excellence in musical theater 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.

Read the entire story with additional photos at the College of Arts + Architecture news site at https://coaa.charlotte.edu/2025/07/20/theatre-alumna-wins-national-teaching-award/.

Awards ceremony photos by Rebecca J. Michelson.