Raleigh’s Ariana DeBose is joining the Wake County school system’s Hall of Fame
Award-winning performer Ariana DeBose headlines the latest class of inductees into the Wake County Public School System Hall of Fame.
The WakeEd Partnership announced Wednesday that DeBose will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for her contributions to the arts as an actress, singer and dancer. DeBose is a graduate of the Wake County school system and has won numerous awards, including the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role of Anita in “West Side Story.”
“Her performance has received universal critical acclaim, with Variety calling her a ‘radiant force of nature’ and Forbes writing ‘Ariana DeBose shines in an absolutely star-making performance,’” WakeEd said in the announcement. “In winning her Oscar, she became the first openly queer Afro Latina to win an Academy Award.”
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DeBose, 31, grew up in Raleigh and Wake Forest. She graduated from Wake Forest-Rolesville High School. Her mother, Gina, is a teacher at Wakefield Middle School in Raleigh.
DeBose thanked the WakeEd Partnership, a business-backed, non-profit advocacy group that supports public education, for the honor.
Accolades for DeBose
It’s been a memorable year for DeBose.
▪ The actress started the year off by hosting the first “Saturday Night Live” of 2022.
▪ In March, DeBose won the Oscar for her part in the 2021 Steven Spielberg remake of the classic New York City musical, “West Side Story,” which depicts the city’s historic Puerto Rican community. She also won the Screen Actors Guild Award, the Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe for her performance.
▪ In May, DeBose was named among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022.
▪ In June, she hosted the 75th annual Tony Awards.
DeBose was The News & Observer’s Tar Heel of the Month in March 2021.
Hall of Fame Class
DeBose is among seven people who will be inducted at the Stars of Education event on Oct. 20 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The other members of the new Hall of Fame class are:
▪ James “Twiggy” Sanders, was a member of the Harlem Globetrotters for 17 years and a graduate of the former Ligon High School in Raleigh. In recent years, he’s been a substitute teacher in Wake County schools.
▪ Jim Hansen, the regional president of Eastern Carolina and Southeast territory executive for PNC Bank, was praised for actively engaging with North Carolina CEOs focused on increasing 3rd-grade reading proficiency,
▪ Caitlin Gooch founded Saddle Up and Read, a nonprofit program based in Wendell that uses horses to encourage students to read.
▪ Peggy Barfield Churn was a former Wake County educator who was the district’s first director of magnet programs.
▪ Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough both attended Wake County schools before the husband and wife team formed the award-winning Raleigh Denim Workshop
Also at the event, Ralph Capps will receive the WakeEd Partnership’s Vernon Malone Friend of Education Award. Capps is the president & CEO of the Wake County Boys & Girls Clubs.
This story was originally published July 27, 2022 at 11:39 AM.
