Carmen Meeks carries educators’ lessons forward

Carmen Meeks had to repeat the fourth grade, but that same year, she decided she wanted to become a teacher.

“She was like, ‘I knew you were amazing. I’m not shocked by who you are today,’” Meeks recalled her fourth-grade teacher, Gwendolyn Beckwith, saying when the two reconnected during Meeks’ first year of teaching. “‘But you needed to close some gaps, and I wasn’t going to let you slip through anybody’s crack.’”

Meeks, who went on to become a teacher and education leader, will be recognized as an Excellence in Education honoree during the St. Louis American Foundation’s 39th annual Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship & Awards Gala on Oct. 17 at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel.

Meeks said she remembers being frustrated with Beckwith for keeping her desk close, staying on her and ultimately deciding she was not ready to move on.

Throughout her schooling, Meeks said she struggled because she did not always feel seen or understood. By high school, she was frequently suspended for fighting and was eventually kicked off the track team.

“I just didn’t feel seen and valued,” Meeks said.

As she grew older, however, Meeks realized there were educators who had seen beyond her behavior. She pointed to Beckwith, her second fourth-grade teacher, Rosalie Gale, and Hazelwood Central social studies teacher Brian White as educators who invested in her and recognized her potential.

Beckwith handpicked Gale to teach Meeks when she repeated the fourth grade. It was in Gale’s classroom that Meeks said she fell in love with teaching and began tutoring younger students.

White told The American that Meeks was a student who came to class with a smile and was eager to learn and contribute. He said the two often talked about her desire to one day give back through education.

White said he still keeps a letter Meeks wrote him before graduating in a keepsake box. In the letter, she told him about the impact he had on her life and how she planned to carry what she learned into her future education.

“I firmly believe that she impacted other kids as a result,” White said. “It gets passed down. And that’s what it’s all about for us as educators.”

Meeks entered the University of Dubuque in Iowa as an education major, but during her freshman year, she said she was discouraged from pursuing teaching and switched her major to psychology. Still, she continued taking education courses.

After earning a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Northern Iowa in 2009, Meeks joined Teach For America and was placed in Kansas City, where she taught preschool and kindergarten.

“I was supposed to be two and done and go to law school,” Meeks said. “It did not work out that way. That was 2009, and we still here serving the children.”

After three years in Kansas City, Meeks returned to St. Louis and worked at South City Prep and the Special School District before joining Washington University’s Institute for School Partnership in 2022. She is now director of the 314 and School Leadership programs.

In her role, she works with school districts to strengthen math and science instruction.

Meeks worked with 61 pre-K teachers in the Hazelwood School District through professional development, coaching and lesson planning. Two years into the partnership, 80% of students completing pre-K were assessed as kindergarten-ready, up 27 percentage points from 2023. That same year, Hazelwood was recognized by the Missouri School Boards’ Association as its Early Childhood Education Program of the Year.

She joined the Special School District Board of Education in 2023 and became board president in March 2025. She is the first Black woman and first person of color to serve as board president.

Zion Guthrie, 17, was a third grader at Northview Elementary School when Meeks became her teacher. Zion said Meeks was the first teacher to expose her to leadership opportunities, encouraging her to participate in WE Schools, a program that introduced students to leadership and community service.

“She felt like I could have learned a lot, and she felt like I had a lot to offer,” Zion said. “She was very encouraging all the time.”

Now a senior at Jennings Senior High School, Guthrie has held leadership positions in several organizations.

Her mother, Duana Guthrie, said Meeks also helped her recognize her daughter’s potential at an early age. Guthrie said Meeks encouraged Zion to enter a writing competition in third grade. Zion wrote her own speech and won.

“She helped me with tapping into Zion’s ability to be a great student,” Guthrie said. “She encouraged and pushed me to challenge her because she saw something in her at an early age.”

Years later, Meeks remains in contact with the family.

“She doesn’t have to keep in touch with us, and we don’t have to keep in touch with her,” Guthrie said. “That just lets me know that it’s genuine and it always has been, and she cares.”

Shannon Rochon, executive director of Black Count, where Meeks serves as a board member, described her as a natural coach who can identify where people or organizations are and help move them toward their goals.

“She’s a coach in every way,” Rochon said. “She just knows how to get people where they need to go.”

Meeks is currently pursuing a doctorate in educational leadership, which she expects to complete in May 2027.

“If we don’t find all of our students and really catch them and get them everything they need, the Carmens of the world may not get here,” Meeks said.