Most of the fourth-grade students Meredith Lokey teaches don’t hesitate for a minute when they have a pressing question or a correct answer. Their hands immediately shoot up in the air.

Lokey said when she was in fourth grade, she was a bit more subdued.

“When I was in elementary school, I was very quiet,” she recalled of her childhood in Jefferson. “I would never ask questions in front of the class. If I had questions for my teacher, I asked them off to the side.”

Lokey may have been quiet in class, but she loved playing outside, and often joined her male cousins in games of basketball and football. She also spent time inside, playing school with her mother.

Lokey’s mother is a teacher, so it was no surprise Lokey wanted to spend her career in a classroom. It is a decision her mother supported, but she dispensed some serious advice to her daughter.

“My mother was very honest in warning me about the challenges of teaching,” Lokey said.

After seven years as a teacher, Lokey admits there are daily challenges in the classroom. But, she maintains, the advantages of teaching far outweigh the disadvantages.

“I love everything about teaching,” she said. “I love my students and their parents, and I can truly say I admire and love every teacher at my school.”

Lokey teaches at Oconee County Elementary, where she was recently voted by the faculty as Teacher of the Year.

“I am very excited, of course, but I am also very honored,” she said of her TOTY award.

Like many educators, Lokey gives much credit to her spouse. Her husband, Bill, she said, helps with everything. He aids Lokey in mastering the ever-changing technology in today’s classroom, and helps her keep her web page up-to-date.

“Bill helps with keeping everything organized, but his biggest role is supporting me every day,” she said, proudly. “He is my biggest supporter.”

Just as her husband makes a special effort to support her, Lokey makes it a point to support the quieter students in her class. She remembers well, she said, what it was like to be shy in school.

“If there is a shy student in my class, I make sure to talk to them,” she said. “I know what it is like to be quiet, and to internalize everything.”

And, what if some of those quieter students come to her and say they want to teach one day?

“It takes a special person to teach, and you have to have a calling to do it,” she said. “But I would encourage any student that has that calling.”

Lokey – who earned her undergraduate and Master’s degrees from Piedmont College and has a Specialist’s degree from Lincoln Memorial University – said she cannot envision a time in the future when her desire to teach will dim or fade.

“I have a calling for education, and I believe I will always be in this field,” she said.

Mary Anne Carroll is a reporter for The Oconee Leader. She can be reached at 706-310-1104 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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