A humbled Lucy Beckham took the podium Monday after being surprised with the announcement that she had been selected as the 2010 MetLife/National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) National Secondary Principal of the Year.  

She has been the principal of Wando High School since 1998, helping to oversee construction of the new campus and now running a school that is  touted as one of the largest high schools in the state, with 3100 students.

“She is a national leader who inspires excellence in everyone around her—someone we all learn from—and we could not be happier for her and the entire Wando community,” said Charleston County School District Superintendent Dr. Nancy McGinley. “Wando is one of the most impressive schools—of any grade level—that you will find in the country, and now its leader has deservedly been given the most prestigious honor that a high school principal can receive.”

State and local dignitaries came to the surprise ceremony along with her entire family. Beckham was told the assembly was to receive an award for the athletic department.

However, when the curtain was pulled back, family and friends cheered her on as the band played the school fight song, while  streamers and confetti dropped from the ceiling.

And in the words of Lucy Beckham, it was “a great day to be a Wando Warrior.”

State Superintendent Dr. Jim Rex was on hand to remind Beckham and her colleagues that Wando High School had long benefited from her remarkable leadership.

Each year the MetLife/NASSP National Principal of the Year program focuses attention on the outstanding work principals do in middle level and high schools across the country. The program annually honors secondary school principals who have succeeded in providing high-quality learning opportunities for students as well as demonstrating exemplary contributions to the profession.  

Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals presented the award along with Michael Leonard, financial representative for MetLife. Tirozzi said that Beckham won out over 50,000 principals in America and, “The successes at Wando were the foundation for Mrs. Beckham’s recognition.”

In addition to the honor of being named Principal of the Year, Beckham will receive $5000 towards her own professional development and or a school improvement project of her choice.

Beckham has been an educator for more than 33 years and an administrator for 15 years.  

Under her leadership, Wando has won national acclaim, including mention among the best schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Beckham was instrumental in the  formation of four career-related schools of study and a ninth-grade academy that provide opportunities for personal connections. Students at all grade levels meet with faculty advisers weekly. As they move to the upper grades, they are assigned to an administrator/ counselor team who monitor and support each student until graduation. Further, Beckham makes a strident effort to keep in constant communication with parents and the community at-large through the school’s Website and the weekly education column she pens for the Moultrie News.

The school has received “excellent” ratings since state report cards were first issued in 2001.

Beckham will be honored during a banquet next month in Washington. She will receive $5000 for the school.

She told the audience Monday however, that all of the school’s successes and national acclaim are the result of  one of the best faculty’s in America, an outstanding dedicated group of students, and community support that is unmatched anywhere else.

She refused to take sole credit. Beckham made it clear that this honor did not come because of her own efforts —  but because of the efforts of everyone at Wando.

“Our success is a work in progress. We’re on a journey and we’re not at the end of that road yet,” she said.

(Sully Witte can be reached at editor@moultrienews.com.)