Since 2013, the competition for North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year has recognized teachers from across the state, each one highly dedicated to their profession and impact on their students’ lives. The process is long: starting with the competition within the school between teachers, the school’s winner then competes regionally, and if they win, they go on to the state competition. Wakefield High School’s nomination and winner is longtime English teacher Sarah Dudley. From her kind nature to her dedication to teaching, students and colleagues alike agreed it was a well-deserved win.
Kate Brown is a freshman in Dudley’s English I class. After having her as a teacher for a fair amount of time, Brown reflects on Dudley’s impact on her as a student and the classroom as a whole.
“She’s so supportive of everyone,” Brown said. “She is such a nice teacher and she gives so much time and effort [towards] her students.”
Not only is Dudley an immersive teacher, but she is also a dedicated teacher to the English department. Malik Bazzell is the principal at Wakefield High School and has been active throughout Dudley’s career. Having seen Dudley go above and beyond for her students and school, Bazzell notes that Dudley’s faithfulness to Wakefield has never wavered.
“She’s dedicated to her department and the students here,” Bazzell said. “She’s worked with all types of classes. I know she has a great love for writing, having been a creative writing teacher for a number of years.”
The Teacher of the Year award goes through a rigorous process. The voting first opens to the students and staff. After enough votes are completed and finalized, eight nominees are left. Afterwards, Wakefield staff votes again in the winter and is chosen from there. Following the high school Teacher of the Year nominations, teachers compete with several other teachers from elementary schools to high schools. Wakefield’s Teacher of the Year for the 2022-2023 school year, Kyle Bayer, went through this process as well as Dudley.
“[Teachers participate] because [they’re] trying to go ahead and advance to the next level and represent [their] school,” Bayer said. “At the same time, [they’re] also realizing that it’s an honor being named Teacher of the Year too.”
Catina Cain is one of the assistant principals at Wakefield. One of her several roles is to run the Teacher of the Year voting and the criteria that goes along with it.
“One of the things that we at Wakefield add on is being a warm demander, which means that you set high expectations in a way that students know that you believe in them,” Cain said. “Being a warm demander just says that I can reach my potential because there is a Mrs. Dudley in the classroom.”
The reaction alone of being nominated for this award is a significant one. Wakefield students and staff congratulated Dudley on her winning of Teacher of the Year.
“[My student’s reaction] was really sweet; my third-period class was there when the announcement was made, and they were very sweet about it,” Dudley said. “Kids that I had in my advisory [class for] the first two weeks of school, who I don’t even teach, [were] coming up to me and [congratulating me].”
Adam Hardy is a senior who had Dudley his junior year of school. He praises the impact Dudley has had at the school, Hardy toasts Dudley’s win of Teacher of the Year.
“She absolutely deserved [the award],” Hardy said. “I think she definitely takes a level above some other teachers when it comes to relationships with the students and how she provides more than a class, it’s more of an experience.”
