October 14, 2025

Linda Jackson is a lifelong educator whose many accomplishments include the distinction of being the first female principal at two Mississippi high schools. She has taught a variety of subjects in grades 1-12 and was among the original appointees to the East Mississippi Community College Board of Trustees, a position she held for 35 years.

Jackson, who was named EMCC’s 2025 Distinguished Service Award recipient, was recognized Oct. 11 during the college’s Homecoming activities.

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving of the Distinguished Service Award,” EMCC President Dr. Scott Alsobrooks said. “Linda has dedicated her life to serving students and she has played an integral role in the many successes at EMCC over the past three decades.”

Jackson is a native of Woodville, a small town located south of Natchez and north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After high school she enrolled in a pre-med program at Jackson State University with the goal of becoming a doctor.

“That lasted about a week,” Jackson said. “The pre-med students were seeing babies delivered, flowing blood and open-heart surgery. Then they told us we were going to have to go to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and watch them work on a cadaver and I said, ‘Nope, I’m out.’”

Even during her youth, a career in education “had been on my mind because I had some wonderful teachers and two or three of them were role models for me,” Jackson said.

She changed to an education track and earned a Bachelor of Education from Jackson State University. She later earned a Master of Education and an Education Specialist degree from Mississippi State University.

“I’ve never regretted that decision,” Jackson said. “I love dealing with children. It’s rewarding to see their accomplishments. Some have gone on to become doctors, lawyers or teachers, and we are proud of them.”

While studying at Jackson State University, Jackson met her husband, Charles. In 1970, the couple moved to Preston and built a house on a plot of land across from the home of Charles’ parents. They have been there ever since.

After moving to Kemper County, Jackson accepted a teaching position at Kemper County Elementary School. She later transferred to Kemper County High School where she worked for 29 years, serving as the school’s first female principal during her last three years there.

When a position opened at Philadelphia High School for a curriculum coordinator, Jackson accepted it and like at Kemper, eventually became that school’s first female principal.

Jackson was a couple of weeks into retirement from that position when she received a call from a former employee of hers asking if she would come work for the Choctaw Tribal Schools as a General Science teacher at Choctaw Central High School. She transferred three years later from the high school to Bogue Chitto Elementary School and is entering her eighth year in the position of Computer Science teacher.

“I have retired three times,” Jackson said. “Each time the Lord blessed me to go back because of offers to return to positions in education.”

Her longest running position was as a member of EMCC’s Board of Trustees. In 1990, the Mississippi Legislature mandated that all colleges be governed by a board of trustees, and Jackson was among the inaugural group of appointees to that body overseeing EMCC. Last April, upon her announcement that she would be retiring from the board, Jackson was presented with a plaque in honor of her 35 years of service to EMCC.

During her tenure at EMCC, the trustees oversaw the addition of new student unions at the Scooba and Golden Triangle campuses, the construction of The Communiversity, a new residence hall at Scooba and numerous upgrades to athletic facilities, to name just a few things.

“We were really proud when they built the new football field because that made us appear to be a big-time school, which we were,” Jackson said. “A lot of the changes were largely because of our leadership. We’ve had four or five presidents now who were really strong, and they moved us up to a level where we could compete with Hinds and other community colleges in the quality of our campuses and in our student population.”

Jackson has garnered numerous awards over the years, including a National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators State Leadership Award presented to her in 2006 in Washington, D.C. for her work at Philadelphia High School as a federal program administrator. The Mississippi Legislature approved a resolution commending her achievement.

Jackson’s husband, Charles Jackson, coached basketball at Kemper County and Philadelphia High Schools. He retired after taking over his father’s farm.

“He says he is a farmer, but I say he is a cowboy since he raises cows,” Linda Jackson said. “He plants and cuts hay, repairs fences, buys feed, and monitors their health and other things, all for the cows.”

The couple has a son, Charles Bertrand Jackson, a daughter, Nikki Jackson, a granddaughter, a grandson-in-law, and two great-grandsons. Linda and Charles Jackson like to travel and Linda Jackson’s work has led her to some interesting places.

She spent three weeks in Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, during an exchange program in which a principal from that country also spent three weeks in Mississippi.

“I also spent three weeks at Harvard University for a principals’ institute,” Linda Jackson said. “That was fascinating to me. We had a chance to share information and learn from other principals about what they were doing in their schools and their states.”