Jocelyn Balagot was teaching her seventh-period students at Yerger Middle School when the door opened and district leaders stepped inside. Magnet Director Carol Ann Duke, Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley, Principal Marilyn Marks and others gathered at the front of the room, and Bagelot assumed it was a routine visit. It was only when they began speaking that she realized something else was happening. “I was in the classroom,” she said. “When they came, I thought they were going to observe me.”

Instead, they announced that Balagot had been named Hope Public Schools’ 2025–2026 Teacher of the Year and handed her a plaque. The moment, she said, was completely unexpected. “They presented it right there in front of my seventh-period class,” she said.

For Balagot, the setting mattered. After 36 years in education, she keeps her purpose for coming to work in the foreground. “It’s actually the students,” she said. “I see much potential in them, and they will be the leaders in the future.”

Balagot teaches eighth-grade math and science at Yerger, where she believes the middle school years are essential for building a strong academic foundation. She said students need to understand the foundation of these subjects before they can move on to more complex ideas. “The basics are really very important,” she said. “Before any complexity, they should take one step first before any giant step.”

Her belief in education was shaped early by family. Balagot’s grandfather was a math teacher, and her aunt taught science. Teaching, she said, runs through her family. 

Although she did not immediately know she would become a teacher, those influences stayed with her. After graduating high school in the Philippines, she initially leaned toward work in the sciences, then found herself drawn to mathematics. Over time, the two disciplines came together. “My grandfather was more of the math, and my auntie was more of the science,” she said. “So I put them together.”

Balagot began her teaching career at Saint Louis University in the Philippines, where she taught for 13 years. From there, she moved to Savannah High School in Georgia, then to New Jersey. When her husband suggested returning home to the Philippines, Balagot said she realized she could not leave the classroom behind. “I can’t stop,” she said.

Instead, she accepted a position at an international school in Bahrain in the Middle East, where she taught for four years. The experience, she said, shaped her approach to teaching. “I worked in an International Baccalaureate school,” she said. “The rigor of the learning there is very, very high.”

That emphasis on inquiry and critical thinking followed her back to the United States. In 2016, Balagot joined Hope Public Schools, teaching at the high school for six years before moving to Yerger Middle School. Her time at the high school reinforced her belief that students need strong fundamentals before advancing. “The earlier, the better,” she said. “So they will be really ready for a bigger step when they go to the high school.”

At Yerger, Balagot teaches both math and science to the same group of eighth graders, which she said allows her to connect concepts across subjects. One project challenges students to build a bridge using only toothpicks and glue, knowing it will be tested by stacking books on top. At first, students struggle to grasp how it could work. “They couldn’t imagine how it could be,” she said.

As the books are added and the structure holds, the lesson becomes clear. Balagot said students cheer as each additional book is placed on the bridge. When it became clear, their design could hold a load, “they were so happy,” she said.

Another project asks students to build towers using toothpicks, then tests them on an improvised shaker table to simulate an earthquake. Balagot does not offer hints until afterward, guiding students through reflection. “They were able to deduce,” she said, realizing that wider bases and triangular supports create stability.

Through projects like these, Balagot emphasizes critical thinking and problem-solving. She said she varies her strategies and draws on ideas acquired in professional development to keep students engaged. “Those are best practices I have learned from trainings,” she said.

She also challenges students to maintain a positive attitude, even when tasks seem difficult. “Nothing is impossible,” she tells them. “That’s what I want from you.”

After teaching in multiple countries and states, Balagot said Hope has become home. She said she appreciates the small size and the sense of community. “I like the simplicity of life, of how warm the people are,” she said.

Balagot said she feels safe and supported in the community and finds comfort in the familiar landscape. The pine trees of southwest Arkansas remind her of the region in the Philippines where she grew up. “It’s my home away from home,” she said.

For Balagot, teaching has always been about helping students see their potential and preparing them for the future. “So at least in my little way, through education, I can help,” she said.

That sense of purpose was evident the day she was surprised in her classroom, honored not in an auditorium or at a banquet, but in front of the students she teaches every day.