Laina Jones Cox ’97 Inspires Students to Create a Blueprint for Change

 

Still aglow with the astonishment of being named Alumnae Fellow, Laina Jones Cox ’97 addressed an all-school assembly on Monday, April 10, declaring “I am so proud to have Hopkins as my first alma mater.” Hopkins is in good company—Cox earned a B.A. in Psychology and Child Development at Spelman College and an Ed. M in Education at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Cox is the Founding Principal of the Middle School for Capital City Charter School in Washington, DC and the founder of The Blueprint Conference for Middle and High School Girls. 

“I was bit by the teaching bug at the age of 13,” remembers Cox. Since taking up her profession, she estimates she has had an impact on 250 students a year, or 4000 young people. “I am changing the world one student at a time.”

Cox credits Hopkins with providing early leadership opportunities and constructive mentoring.  She was President of S.U.R.E (Students United for Racial Equity) and Dean of Students for Summerbridge, now Pathfinder.  Her most impactful teachers, she recounts, “tore apart my writing in order to build it back up again.” 

At Spelman College her Black identity was nurtured and she was “forced to go toe-to-toe” with strong women.  A Masters in Education at Harvard solidified her focus—“I wanted to be an urban middle school teacher.”  An early lesson in failure, however, shifted her goal from teacher to administrator.  “I took the Massachusetts licensure exam six times and failed.”  The experience forced her to do what she calls “fail forward.”  She ventured out of the classroom and onto the broader path of educator.
  

Drawing upon her experience as a principal and lessons from her own life, Cox founded “The Blueprint Conference for Middle and High School Girls”.  Starting in Washington DC, it is now mounted in three additional cities. 

At assembly, Cox led the students through a condensed version of the conference: 
1. Find your platform
2. Build your network of mentors and sidekicks
3. Fail forward
4. Find your passion and use it for change
5. Know your worth, own your privilege and use it for good.  
 

After assembly, Cox attended a reception with students, faculty and staff and visited two classrooms for lively discussions on Dangerous Books and Psychology.