The workforce training program that helped win her an award
MAUMEE – A teacher from Ohio Virtual Academy was named Best K-12 Teacher in the ninth annual Tech Edvocate Awards in 2025, a recognition of her leadership and innovation in the classroom.
Bacon is a special education transition liaison for the Ohio Virtual Academy, where she helps students prepare for college, trade school, military service or the workforce.
“I started with Ohio Virtual Academy about eight years ago, and it has been a wonderful experience,” Bacon said. “I love this job because it gives me that freedom and creativity to work with special education students and talk about different skills they will need to prepare for the future.”
Karen Bacon is a resident of Wapakoneta, and she has a Master of Education from the University of Findlay and a certification in middle school language arts and science. Before she taught at Ohio Virtual Academy, she was a French teacher at Lima Central Catholic High School.
“I kind of got into the whole education thing just starting with being a French teacher,” Bacon said. “I just loved being around the kids and being able to explore the culture and the language with the students that I had.”
Bacon is the creator of the academy’s Cardinal Café, a virtual coffee shop created through K12 Zone that provides students with hands-on workforce training.
“The Cardinal Café was something that came about last year, where I was thinking, how can I prepare my students for different jobs in this online environment?” Bacon said. “So I thought, maybe if I design a café, we can go over all the skills within there.”
Within the interactive online environment, students can apply and interview for barista roles, manage orders and money and practice workplace etiquette. Bacon said her students love the café, and it’s a fun way for them to learn.
The Cardinal Café has proven to be an effective platform for educating students about the workforce. Since the program was created, other teachers have expanded the Cardinal Café, creating more environments for the students to interact with and learn more skills.
“This school year, all my other teammates and I decided that everyone should do one and have something different, so it’s kind of grown into a whole realm after I did the café,” Bacon said. “We came up with a grocery store, a fitness center, and during Christmas time, I did a bakery.”
The Tech Edvocate Awards recognize leading education technology companies, products and individuals, highlighting innovations that improve teaching and learning. Bacon said winning the award was a fun and exciting opportunity.
“For me, the award encompasses myself, my students and even my team,” she said.
Bacon said she has learned a lot working in special education, and that being able to connect with her students through the café has been meaningful.
“I’ve learned just to listen to what they need to be successful, and have the understanding that all of my students are super unique and have individual needs,” she said. “If I’m listening and working with them, I can definitely help them achieve what they want to do, and I’ve definitely learned that through the café.
Bacon said she loves working in the K-12 environment and working for Ohio Virtual Academy.
“I always like to stress that there’s more to the job than just Zoom and PowerPoints,” she said. “It’s always opening the doors for me to find different ways to be creative and do things that are fun for them and their learning.”
