Briana Jones believed she was helping her students cook and serve food for visiting state education officials at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island. The gathering was actually for her. Jones, a special education and culinary teacher, was surprised with a $25,000 Milken Educator Award, the first presented anywhere in the country for the 2026-27 school year, NBC 10 News reported.
She had been catering and keeping an eye on her students when she realized the event was about her. Jones told NBC 10 she was in “utter shock” the moment she heard her name.
How the Surprise Unfolded at Central Falls High School
The announcement came on Oct. 21, 2026. Students, teachers, local dignitaries and media gathered for what most believed was an assembly with Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, according to the Milken Educator Awards announcement.
Dr. Jane Foley, senior vice president of the Milken Educator Awards and a 1994 recipient herself, joined the commissioner on stage and called out Jones’s name. Foley said Jones’s commitment to her students “is changing lives in Central Falls.”…