As Martin Luther King once said, “If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.”

This quote has been Rasheida Brown’s favorite throughout her career and this year she has been awarded the 2017 Classified Professional of the Year.

The criteria for this award is professionalism, teamwork, quality of work and customer service; all of which are very important to be considered for the the award voted by the administration  — and Brown definitely exemplifies these qualities.

Pamela Jubar, the school’s Interim Assistant Principal, explains the process of nominating classified staffers for the award.

“I sent out a nomination criteria to all of the administrators — so that went to the principal, the associate principals, the assistant principals and the assistant administrators — and if there was someone they wanted to nominate they could,” Jubar said. “Once the names were submitted, I sent the names to all of the admin to be voted on for who they thought deserved to be the person of the year. For the final count, Ms. Rasheida Brown won.”

Because the award is given as a surprise, Brown did not know she was going to receive it — much less that it would be presented with all the administrators in her office.

“All of the administrators, we go together, so we just bombard you. It was nice to present her with that award,” Jubar said. “It was nice because she was so deserving. It was a good feeling that she was recognized by my peers and colleagues as a deserving person to have that award for the year.”

Presenting the award was equally as nice and honoring as it was to receive it, according to Ms. Brown.

“When they all came in here at once — and I had every AP in here, so it was kind of scary at first — I was like, ‘what did I do, did I do something wrong’, and that is when Mrs. Jubar gave me the award,” Brown said. “I felt honored. I was just happy to be a part of this wonderful Wando family. Working for Mr. [Assistant Principal Dan] Cieslikowski is awesome, as well as working with all the other AP’s. I love it”

Working with children has always been a passion of Ms. Brown, and receiving an award for her work was truly an honor.

“My passion has always been children; even during my early childhood I always worked at a childcare center, helped out in the church nursery and at the church daycare center too. Helping children in general has always been my passion,” Brown said. “I moved from childcare to being a nanny, and after being a nanny I decided to come here — apply for Charleston County. I ended up at Belle Hall for a couple of months, and then Wando had a position open, so I applied and got the position.

“I love it. I’ve met a lot of new kids, and I’m known as ‘Mama Sheida,’” Brown continued. “Just knowing that I can touch a lot of lives here at Wando, and capture a lot of hearts is just something I love doing.”