WBHS teacher wins 2010 Hollins University Teaching Award
from Hollins University President Nancy Gray.
The award was presented May 23 during the university’s 168th Commencement Exercises.
Wakeland, who teaches English, received a $2,000 award and accepted a $1,000 check on behalf of William Byrd.
The award honors secondary school teachers who have devoted their lives to preparing students to achieve and excel in a higher education setting. Each year, Hollins seniors are invited to nominate the teachers who inspired them or contributed significantly to their intellectual and personal growth.
Wakeland was nominated by Hollins senior Amber Hylton, who recalled that during her high school years, “Ms. Wakeland quickly became the one that I looked to for encouragement and guidance….[She] told me that can do anything I put my mind to….[S]he assured me daily that I have the talent and work ethic to get through college.
“When I graduate [from Hollins] I will think back to the day I doubted I would even get accepted to college, but I will also think of the day when I needed a hero and Ms. Wakeland came to my rescue. She gave me the strength to continue and the assurance that I will succeed.”
The Hollins University Teaching Award is made possible by The Decker Endowment, established in 2007 by Mary Bernhardt Wolfe Decker, a member of Hollins’ Class of 1958, and her husband, James DeWitt Decker, of Charleston, South Carolina. The endowment is intended to honor and reward those in the teaching profession.
(Last updated 3/24/10)