Charles Wright Faculty Member Wins Award From Historical Society

Charles Wright Academy Head of Upper School Bill White was awarded the Jim Kiefert Administrator of the Year Award from the Washington State Historical Society at a ceremony in Bellevue on May 3.

Upper School history teacher Nick Coddington, who organizes Charles Wright's participation in the annual National History Day competition, nominated Mr. White in honor of his robust support of history programming at the Tacoma private school. 

The award honors Washington History Day cofounder Jim Kiefer, and is dedicated to recognizing a high school administrator who has demonstrated support for the National History Day program and fosters a learning environment that fosters student success. “This is an award that we really look to honor every year, as it is so important to recognize our administrators as they really do so much for the program and without their support, many of our teachers simply could not compete,” said Mark Vessey, History Day coordinator for the Washington State Historical Society. “So having an award like this and recognizing an outstanding individual like Mr. White is really the least we could do for the program. Having Mr. White in attendance to accept the award was also pretty special.”

The winning administrator must work with a school or regional History Day program, and the evaluation criteria include demonstrated support of the History Day program in the classroom and the school community; exemplary commitment to teachers who develop innovative teaching strategies in history education and recognition of their achievements; encouragement and support for student participation in regional, state, and national History Day competitions; and personal interest in the teaching and learning of history.