Teacher of the Year is from Baltimore
Athanasia Kyriakakos teaches art to high school students at Mervo
Most mornings, students at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School in Northeast Baltimore arrive early and wait for the art teacher to unlock her classroom.
They work quietly before first period under the direction of Athanasia Kyriakakos, drawing, painting and expressing emotions on canvas they couldn’t capture with words.
Kyriakakos, “Mrs. K” to her students, was named Friday as Maryland State Teacher of the Year — the second consecutive year a Baltimore City educator has earned the honor.
“I’m really glad an art teacher got this, so maybe we can change the discourse about art education,” said Kyriakakos, 47. “What we teach is not just about color theory — it’s about life skills.”
Kyriakakos has taught art from prekindergarten to high school since she began in city schools in 2011. She has taught since 2014 at Mervo.
“She personifies the kind of teacher every student deserves — caring, dedicated, talented, energetic, and an advocate for helping students express themselves in positive ways,” city schools CEO Sonja Santelises said in a statement.
Kyriakakos was born in the U.S. and spent a decade in Greece as a child. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art, she moved to Connecticut and found a passion for teaching.
Her class, Foundations of Art, teaches three lessons. Not painting, drawing, sculpture, she tells students, but rather, focus, perseverance and resilience.
The first week she has students draw the contour of their left hand, again and again.
“They understand I will not accept anything lower than the highest possible product,” she said. “They will excel. I will call them at home. I will text them at night. I will call their parents. I will sit after school every day until they get that damn hand.”
Soon the students are swept up, arriving early.
Lessons evolve from hands to painted portraits of power. She challenges students, “What is power in your life?”
They have painted pop singer Beyonce with crackling, electric hair and breaking from chains; also a posturing young man and a fist shattering prison bars.
“This image that comes right out of their soul onto the canvas,” she said.