Jennifer Jones creates learning communities that support students and educators while they take the intellectual risks necessary for growth. Jones earned her Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in speech communication from the University of Minnesota at Morris, and has spent the last 19 years of her 23-year career at Lee’s Summit West High School in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, where a 2024 graduate praised Jones as a teacher who sees students’ “potential and challenges them to achieve it.” She teaches senior college credit English and International Baccalaureate English literature while serving as language arts department co-chair.

Jones holds a Master of Education in educational psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a graduate certificate in writing instruction from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She has shared her expertise on writing instruction and discussion strategies at conferences hosted by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Missouri Write to Learn and the National Council of Teachers of English. As a member of the Greater Kansas City Writing Project, a network of writing teachers, Jones demonstrates her career-long passion for learning from colleagues, especially in the areas of writing instruction and culturally responsive teaching. A colleague commends Jones for creating “safe space[s]” for educators to “test their academic muscles.”

Jones’s belief in the power of words and community extends to her volunteer activities: She mentors for  the Cappies, a high school theater critics organization, and produces a monthly open mic at a local theatre.