Every year, three finalists for Wando’s teacher of the year are selected, and every year, these finalists represent excellence both in teaching and in the lives of their students. These teachers work tirelessly to educate and help their students grow in any way they can, year in and year out. With this award, their work is rewarded and their efforts live forever in the name of Teacher of the Year winner. The three finalists this year are Advanced Placement Human Geography teacher Dr. Jason Brisini, Spanish teacher Kailey Keels, and Chorus teacher Eric Wilkinson. All are deserving of this recognition; however, only one can win.
Brisini has been changing lives at Wando for years in multiple ways. On top of his job of being the first AP social studies teacher many students have on their high school journey, he also organizes Wando’s esteemed AP academy.
Cara Lanz is a freshman in Brisini’s AP Human Geography class.
“He cares not just about teaching the kids what he has to teach, but making sure that they’re gonna’ be prepared for college classes and for future AP classes in high school,” Lanz said. “He puts in a lot of work into what he does and he has a lot of dedication for his class and it shows in our grades and our preparation and our thinking.”
On the other side of the teaching spectrum, Chorus Director Wilkinson connects with students in a way that not many can. Every teacher at least tries to create a bond with each student they teach; however, Wilkinson is in the unique position of actually being able to build multiple years of camaraderie. Between this and his perfectionist’s approach to chorus direction, it is easy to see why his program has been award-winning over the years.
Charlie Minister is a senior and a three year chorus student with Wilkinson.
“He gives that dad vibe and it is amazing and it creates such a great community within the class, and… I couldn’t think of anyone who doesn’t like Wilks,” Minister said. “He’s such an amazing teacher that… it would be surprising [if he doesn’t win] because he just creates that community… and he helps us create amazing music.”
Ms. Keels, a spanish teacher, uses a more traditional method of impacting students through her teaching. Educating both beginners in Spanish One, and the most advanced learners in AP Spanish. Even with the wide range of skill sets students have walking into her class for the first time, Keels gets each and every kid where they need to be and more by the end of the semester.
Aaron Gebreselassie is a senior in Keels’ AP Spanish class.
“Whether it’s games… like a story and she needs us to like pick names or something or pick actions that people do. She… just finds a way to get everybody involved in that way. Everybody’s paying attention,” said Gebreselassie. “In my five years of Spanish, she’s probably been the most exciting… I guess influential teacher in terms of helping me get a lot better with Spanish, so I think she probably deserves totally the most out of everybody else.”
Though each of these educators connect with their students in different ways, they each have the same goal: to see growth in their students. Whether that be academically, going from failing to an A and everything in between; or mentally, seeing a kid go from sitting in the back of the class to being able to start a conversation with anyone. Both objectives could be seen as equally important, and these three teachers go above and beyond to accomplish them.