Triangle area teachers win $20,000 award at WFU

Lynne Peters, an elementary school teacher in Wake County, receives the Marcellus E. Waddill Excellence in Teaching Award from WFU President Thomas K. Hearn, Jr.

Mitchell Cox of Hillsborough and Lynne Peters of Cary are the two recipients of the 2004 Marcellus E. Waddill Excellence in Teaching Award at Wake Forest University.

Cox and Peters each received the $20,000 award during the university’s Fall Convocation Oct. 28. Lee Hamilton, vice chair of the Sept. 11 commission, delivered the convocation address in the university’s Wait Chapel.

Mitchell Cox, a teacher at Orange High School in Hillsborough, receives the Marcellus E. Waddill Excellence in Teaching Award from WFU President Thomas K. Hearn, Jr.

Wake Forest annually presents the Waddill award to alumni who are outstanding teachers. One secondary and one primary school school teacher are chosen each year.

Cox, a high school teacher, was recognized on the secondary level. He graduated from Wake Forest in 1982 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He has taught at Orange High School in Hillsborough since 1987. Previously, he was an English teacher at C.W. Stanford Middle School in Hillsborough.

Cox is the chair of the English department at Orange High School. He is nationally certified in adolescent language arts, and was designated the Orange County Teacher of the Year for the 1996-97 academic year.

Colleagues, parents and students praise his innovative teaching skills, as well as his dedication to keeping parents and students informed of class assignments and progress at all times.

Peters, an elementary school teacher in Wake County, was recognized on the primary level. She graduated from Wake Forest in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education. Peters teaches the fourth grade at Highcroft Drive Elementary School in Wake County. Prior to her recent return to North Carolina, she taught in Florida and Canada.

Although not specifically a special education teacher, Peters has served during her career as a resource teacher for learning disabled students. She is recognized for developing and implementing innovative learning activities. Colleagues, parents and students praise her ability to get students to surpass academic expectations, and they laud her talent for reaching the most challenged members of her class.

David Waddill of Rye, N.Y., established the award in 1994 to honor his father, Marcellus E. Waddill of Winston-Salem, who retired in 1997 after teaching mathematics at Wake Forest for 35 years.

Thirty-nine teachers from across the country competed for this year’s award. Nominees for the award must submit lesson plans, letters of recommendation, and essays. Finalists are interviewed, and submit a videotape of their teaching techniques.