We proudly announce that Ms. Meliza Washino is our 2023-2024 Teacher of the Year at Buckingham Collegiate Charter Academy.
Ms. Washino began as a Social Science teacher in 2018 and has been an absolute superstar addition to our staff since her arrival. She currently teaches US History, Ethnic Studies, and Leadership.
She brings a remarkable positive energy wherever she goes, and as a result, she is beloved by her students and colleagues. One of her colleagues said it best when they said, “One of [her] most notable strengths is her leadership ability. She has a unique knack for leading by example, inspiring her peers, and fostering a sense of unity among students and staff alike. Her good sense of humor, relatability, and approachability have also played a significant role in [her] success as a teacher. She has a way of making everyone feel comfortable and valued, which has greatly enhanced the overall morale and spirit of our school.”
In the classroom, Ms. Washino is a stellar instructor who works incredibly hard to prepare engaging lessons and help students grow their love for learning history. She has introduced projects that allow students to demonstrate content knowledge uniquely, displaying their creativity including the decades project and the wax museum project.
Ms. Washino also serves as a mentor teacher and works to enrich the collaboration within the social science department at Buckingham.
As our Leadership Teacher and Student Council advisor, Ms. Washino is taking our school to new heights. She initially stepped in last year as a Senior Class Advisor and successfully organized our Senior trip to Disneyland and an amazing prom for our juniors and seniors.
This year, Ms. Washino has dedicated her time to leading our ASB students in grades 9-12 in her leadership class of 35 students. She gave up the last weeks of her summer to help prepare and train her student leaders for the year and to create plans to welcome our incoming freshmen.
She quickly builds relationships with her students so they appreciate, trust, and respect her. Furthermore, she has created new systems to help streamline paperwork and, building on the systems initiated by her predecessor, she has trained her students to be even more efficient.
The opportunity for students to create their clubs allows for meaningful engagement and connectivity to school, and we are so grateful to Ms. Washino for helping us to foster this sort of environment at Buckingham.
Buckingham is immensely grateful to Ms. Washino for all her contributions to improving our school.