Meet Wake’s 2025 Principal of the Year. She strives to empower female students.
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- Wake County named Mariah Walker 2025-26 Principal of the Year, citing leadership.
- Walker leads Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy and champions female students.
- Jose Espinal won Assistant Principal of the Year for AVID and student supports.
Mariah Walker is the Wake County school system’s 2025-26 Principal of the Year, and Jose Espinal is the Assistant Principal of the Year.
The winners were announced Thursday night at a ceremony in Raleigh at the Angus Barn, one of the event’s sponsors.
Walker has been principal of Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy (WYWLA) in Raleigh since 2022. She has been a finalist multiple times for Principal of the Year, including in 2023, when Winston Pierce won and in 2020 when Elena Ashburn won.
District leaders pointed to Walker’s many years championing the cause of female students, culminating in her leading the only all-girls school in the district.
During an acceptance speech that incorporated Bible verses, Walker told her fellow educators that education is the living expression of hope.
“Faith involves moving when we don’t see the next step, and that is what we do for schools every single day,” Walker said. “We move when we don’t see the next step. We create hope for people who don’t have hope for themselves, and we create life where there is none.”
Works to inspire female students
Walker has two decades of experience working in the Wake County school system. She started as an English teacher before becoming an assistant principal at Sanderson High School in Raleigh.
While at Sanderson, she founded WISE (Women Inspiring Success in Each other), a leadership program empowering at-risk and underrepresented female students to excel academically and personally, and SANKOFA Moms, a collective for teen mothers.
She later became an assistant principal at Pleasant Grove Elementary in Cary and then principal of Hilburn Academy in Raleigh, which is Wake’s only K-8 school.
The Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy allows female students to take single-gender courses in middle and high school before taking courses with a partner college. Walker helped students bridge the transition when the district ended its partnership in 2024 with St. Augustine’s University.
The Wake Young Women’s Leadership Academy is now partnering with Shaw University for college courses.
“To the extraordinary women at WYWLA. Thank you for inspiring me, for being the light in education,” Walker said during her speech.
Walker is the president of the Wake County Division of Principals and Assistant Principals. She holds a doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision, master’s degrees in Educational Leadership and Supervision and Curriculum Instruction and Supervision, and a bachelor’s degree in English and Secondary Education, all from NC State University,
Walker will receive a prize package that includes $1,000. She will compete in North Carolina’s Principal of the Year program. This year’s other Wake Principal of the Year finalists were:
- Leslie Blake of Green Elementary School in Raleigh
- Keith Faison of South Garner High School
- Juley Sexton of Combs Elementary School in Raleigh
- Roxann Sykes of Dillard Drive Elementary School in Raleigh
Repeat Assistant Principal of the Year winner
This marks the second time Jose Espinal, an assistant principal at South Garner High School, has won the district honor. In 2017, Espinal was named Wake County’s Assistant Principal of the Year when he was at Enloe High School in Raleigh.
Espinal has been an educator for 20 years. He taught visual arts at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh and at West Charlotte High School before becoming an assistant principal at Enloe. He came to South Garner in 2022.
At South Garner, Espinal leads the Career and Technical Education, World Language and English as A Second Language departments by implementing AVID strategies. It’s a program that helps support and prepare students to take college courses.
Espinal helps foster collaboration among teachers through professional learning teams and uses data-driven interventions to help at-risk freshmen earn promotion to 10th grade.
Espinal also serves as a facilitator for the school system, helping guide new assistant principals in their journey into leadership roles in Wake.
“As one of the few Latino leaders in this space, I carry this award with deep responsibility,” Espinal said during his speech. “I hope this moment serves as both a mirror and a window. A mirror for those who see themselves in me, a window for others to see what is possible when diverse voices are present in leadership.”
’Proud child of immigrant parents’
During his speech, Espinal talked about being a “proud child of immigrant parents” who came to America fleeing a civil war and a dictatorship.
Espinal was born in Nicaragua and was raised speaking Spanish. He learned English when he came to the U.S., so he says he sees himself in his students.
The crowd repeatedly cheered when Espinal said that “representation matters.”
“Our students deserve to see leaders who look like them, who share their experiences, and who speak their language, literally and figuratively,” Espinal said.
Espinal will receive a prize package that includes a $500 check.
The other finalists for Assistant Principal of the Year were:
- Sonya Brown of Smith Elementary School in Raleigh
- Angie Griffin of Scotts Ridge Elementary School in Apex
- Jasmine McNeill of Pleasant Union Elementary School in Raleigh
- Amberlee Scott of Cary High School
This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM.
