Charlotte native Jamila Omari Rasheed has been crowned Miss UNCF/Claflin University.

Jamila, a freshman, is the daughter of Beatrice Thompson, the Qcity’s longtime television and radio broadcaster.

A year ago this month, as a senior flag girl and member of the Harding University High School Marching Band, Jamila marched in the historic inaugural parade for President Barack Obama.

In support of the United Negro College Fund, she raised nearly $5,000 in less than a month -- more than half the total collected by students in the pageant.

Jamila will now represent Claflin at the National UNCF Pageant in New Orleans, February 3-7.

“I’m really proud of her,” Thompson told Qcitymetro.com. “She made no doubt about the fact that she wanted to go to an HBCU. She felt that would be good for her. My thought was to let her blossom the way she wanted to, and that’s what she’s doing by going to Claflin, and she’s making her mark.”

Claflin, based in Orangeburg, S.C., is the state’s oldest HBCU. It consistently ranks among the top HBCU’s in student retention and alumni involvement. It also reportedly has a strong financial endowment.

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Kim Andrews of Butler High School has been named N.C. Assistant Principal of the Year by the N.C. Principals and Assistant Principals Association (NCPAPA).

“I got the call and I was so surprised,” Andrews said in a statement Thursday. “I think the only thing I said was, ‘Wow.’ I couldn’t think of anything to say.”

Andrews was nominated by a Butler teacher. She doesn’t know who submitted her name but accepted the nomination and moved on with the next steps, which included some significant homework assignments.

“I had to fill out the application and write three essays,” she said. “The first was about the ways we use data to drive student achievement, and the second was how we work at Butler to build a sense of community. I also wrote about the importance of professional development, and that is really my passion. If my teachers say they need something, I’ll find a way to get it. I’ll do almost anything to help them teach our students better.”

Andrews joined CMS in 1995 when she accepted a job as a 7th-grade teacher at Northeast Middle School. She also taught at Providence High School and Jay M. Robinson Middle School before becoming an assistant principal at Butler four years ago. She has a master’s degree in school administration from the UNC Charlotte and is currently working on her doctorate at Wingate University.

NASSP annually honors a winner from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). Three national finalists will be named in February and one national winner will be chosen at NASSP’s national convention in March,

National finalists each receives a $1,500 grant, and the national winner receives a $5,000 grant.

Editor's Note: Names in the news is a celebration of achievement. Email our good news to editor@qcitymetro.com.
 

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