GSEHD alumna Shampriest Bevel (Education Specialist, Education) has been named the 2023 Outstanding Middle School Principal of Virginia by a panel of principals and superintendents representing the Principal Awards Committee of the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals (VASSP). Ms. Bevel has been principal at Bayside Middle School, Sixth Grade Campus, since 2021.
"She has cultivated a welcoming, inclusive, and affirming environment with a clear vision that every student in her Title I school reads at or above proficiency and identifies a career or post-secondary interest. Recent data shows improvement in all categories of Standards of Learning (SOL) tests; reduction of 28% in discipline referrals; and improvement of attendance from 13th to 2nd among division middle schools." –VASSP
Following input from student focus groups and staff, Ms. Bevel organized the school into smaller learning communities as a transition strategy from elementary school, an instructional approach for individualization, and an early intervention process for behavior and attendance.
As the Outstanding Middle School Principal of Virginia, VASSP has put Bevel in nomination to be the state’s candidate for the award of National Principal of the Year, an award sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.