For her work in and out of the classroom, Mississippi kindergarten teacher La’Keshia Johnson was featured in an article by Time Magazine. Photo credit: Okolona Municipal School District.

So many of our nation’s educators have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide for their students during the pandemic—not just meeting their educational needs, but providing meals for those who needed food, helping with housing, acquiring clothing, and assisting with emotional support. One of these is La’Keshia Johnson, who teaches kindergarten at Okolona Elementary School in Okolona, Mississippi.

For much of last year, teacher La’Keshia made it her mission to ensure her kindergarten students in the rural town of Okolona, Mississippi, received their breakfasts and hot lunches, even in the midst of the pandemic. She never missed a day of delivering meals to them, even though it meant assembling them and riding the bus to deliver them herself. “We wanted to make sure every student was taken care of,” she explained. “You’re so accustomed to seeing their smiling faces up and down the hall. The pandemic kind of took that away.”

Because her students were isolated at home, La’Keshia penned and mailed letters to her kids modeled after the Flat Stanley books. She encouraged them to write back and include pictures with their “Flat Ms. Johnson” cutouts.

When Okolona schools returned to in-person instruction, La’Keshia drew satisfaction from watching her students enter the classroom unable to recognize the letters of the alphabet, but leave with the ability to read a book out loud.

For her outstanding work within and beyond her classroom, La’Keshia Johnson was featured in the Time Magazine article entitled “Educators who Saved a Pandemic Year” published in September, 2021. She truly is a chalkboard Champion.