WVNCC Commencement Speaker Announced

Commencement speaker at the 2015 ceremonies for West Virginia Northern Community College is Gail Adams, the 2015 West Virginia Teacher of the Year.

Adams began her teaching career at Wheeling Park High School in 2004 after graduating that year with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education English Language Arts from West Liberty University, a degree that she began at West Virginia Northern Community College.

This year’s WVNCC ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, May 8, at WesBanco Arena in downtown Wheeling. Also during the event, Adams will receive the Distinguished Alumnus award, an honor first bestowed by the WVNCC Alumni Association in 1995.

In addition to teaching English Language Arts, for seven years Adams helped coach the acclaimed WPHS speech team. She now coaches students who participate in Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation program.

As Teacher of the Year, she travels throughout the state and country. In West Virginia, she speaks to aspiring teachers, veteran teachers, students and civic organizations and she participates on various boards of directors. On the national level, she attends conferences on education policy and elevating the profession by strengthening teacher voice.

4/29/15