A retired Wake County teacher received the 2025 Inspiring Teacher Award at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, also known as the Jimmy Awards, after being nominated by a former student.
Koko Thornton taught at Enloe High School in Raleigh for 24 years before retiring at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. She now serves as a Marketing and Outreach Coordinating Teacher with the school district.
“Teachers are not teaching because they want any kind of accolades or awards or anything like that and I am used to having my kids in the spotlight, not myself,” Thornton told Eyewitness News. “My goal as an educator was to help my students see their own potential inside of them.”…