Leadership Prince William Signature Program will announce the winner of the Kathy Ellington Alumni Leadership Award on Sept. 24.
The award is given to past graduates of Leadership Prince William who “used their vision, leadership, skills and talents to accomplish something notable,” said executive director Andrea Money.
The first 25 people who RSVP will be able to attend the ceremony in-person from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m. at Beacon Hall on the George Mason University campus. To RSVP, email Money at [email protected].
The ceremony will also be available virtually via Zoom or live-streaming on Facebook.
Normally the award is given at the Evening of Excellence Gala and Awards Dinner in June. It’s being held now at the start of a new class year since the coronavirus prevented this event from taking place as usual, Money said.
The two nominees are class of ’18 Aaron Tolson and class of ’16 Amanda Wagner.
From Leadership Prince William: Aaron Tolson
“How many times have you seen a great idea on social media and then kept scrolling? Luckily for the people of Greater Prince William, Aaron Tolson didn’t do that. He had a passion to help bridge the gap between distribution-in supply and access-by rescuing food that’s about to go to waste and giving it to those in need. After graduating from the LPW Signature Program in 2018, he discovered a program in Pittsburgh that was doing exactly what he aspired to do here. So he traveled to see how their program worked, found local partners and turned that passion in to the Prince William Food Rescue.
He spent months working with Patrick King atIMAGINE on developing the technology that would make rescues possible. Together they developed an app where every day citizens can learn about opportunities to help rescue and deliver food as they go about their day. Then they joined up with ACTS to give the program the strength of a prominent local not-for-profit already working to help get food to people in need. To-date, Prince William Food Rescue volunteers have completed over 6,000 food rescues, equaling over 3,000,000 pounds of food helping feed locals rather than rotting in the landfill.
Last school year Aaron worked with our three local school divisions to set up food-sharing tables in schools so students can share items they don’t want or need. During the pandemic, the Food Rescue, under Aaron’s leadership, has been able to get food to those who can not leave their homes to get to food pantries, shared food with other local not-for-profit organizations and developed additional strategies and partnerships to store and transport food. As the need in the community has increased, so too, has the capacity of the Prince William Food Rescue.”
From Leadership Prince William: Amander Wagner
“Amanda Wagner has put the collaborative leadership style she learned as part of her Signature Program experience in to action. Since graduating in 2016, she has become a school principal, built a brand new school program at Baldwin Intermediate from the ground up, started a family, finished her dissertation, and received her PhD from George Mason University!
Dr. Wagner consistently looks for new ways to build relationships with all manner of stakeholders in the community – from partnering with businesses to going door to door with her staff delivering teacher assignments and schedules for the new year and getting to know the families she serves. She is known as a tireless advocate for those that she works with and for.
Opening Baldwin Intermediate presented a special challenge in its unique gift – a separate, small school in a shared building with a mix of staff from other buildings. Her first year staff was a mix of teachers that she had picked herself – people she had worked with, going back to the very beginnings of her career in the classroom at Weems Elementary to those from other schools within the Manassas City Public Schools system. Dr. Wagner met the challenge of leading a diverse group of students and teachers by building culture in to her school community at every level.
She often draws on what she learned in LPW, including Emergenetics, to help staff and students to grow their collaboration and communication skills. In turn, the building’s educators have come to foster those same skills in the students. In the three years since Baldwin Intermediate opened its doors, Dr. Wagner has leveraged her community connections from heading up the MCPS Education Foundation, as well as her time with Leadership Prince William, to grow a school with community connections and opportunities for students and staff to grow in collaboration with their community. Amanda keeps the focus on her people – students and staff and has been recognized within the division for the unique school she developed and leads. Under her leadership, every person she works with has found renewed passion for their work.”
