Trey Jackson
Trey Jackson is a rural Appalachia civic and student leader from London, Kentucky. He is a senior at the University of the Cumberlands majoring in Accounting and Finance, a member of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars Youth Advisory Council, a licensed Kentucky real estate agent, and an incoming University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law student for fall 2026.
Rural Schools Have Local Care but Lack Outside Investment
In a Rooted + Rising reflection on rural education in London, Kentucky, Trey Jackson argues that local schools are sustained by unusually dense networks of care but constrained by a lack of outside investment. Jackson describes teachers, coaches, neighbors, and nonprofits as central to students’ lives, while warning that underpaid staff, staffing shortages, and unmet basic needs cannot be solved by community commitment alone. For him, the problem is not that rural communities lack will; it is that their schools are being asked to make care do the work of resources.
Eastern Kentucky’s Rural Education Story Starts With Local Experience
Trey Jackson’s Rooted + Rising welcome video introduces him as an Eastern Kentucky youth journalist whose authority comes from having lived and studied in the rural education system he plans to document. Jackson argues that national conversations often overlook his region, and says his work will focus on local institutions he knows directly, including his public high school in London, Kentucky, and the University of the Cumberlands, where he sees people trying to address challenges and build reasons for students and talent to stay.