Hylton Teacher Wins Mentor Award

Lauren Brundage Wilson was on her way home from coaching soccer practice at Hylton High School when Activities Director Sal Colangelo called her. “What’s up, mentor of the year?” Colangelo said.

Wilson had no idea what Colangelo was talking about, but soon discovered that she had indeed been given the Teacher Mentor of the Year award by Prince William County Schools for her efforts to help other teachers.

Wilson was the assigned teacher mentor for first-year fellow math teacher Jenna Genson, who also served as an assistant coach for the volleyball team Wilson coaches.

Wilson was told last summer that Genson would be coming to Hylton as a new math teacher and immediately started finding ways to help smooth Genson’s transition. Wilson helped Genson find a place to live in the area and get settled in, and as the two worked together over the year, their friendship grew and developed.

Genson nominated Wilson for the Teacher Mentor of the Year award because Wilson helped make her first year at Hylton a positive experience, but Wilson doesn’t take all the credit. “It’s not just because of me,” she is quick to point out. 

A 1997 graduate of Hylton, Wilson always knew she wanted to teach, and math seemed to be the obvious choice when she was able to help her classmates in high school understand concepts that their teachers couldn’t get across.

“I just like helping people,” Wilson said.

Math makes sense to Wilson, and she enjoys helping it make sense to others. “There’s a definite solution, but many ways to get there,” she said. “It combines that certainty with the ability to be creative.”

After four years as a math major at the University of Virgina, Wilson returned to Hylton as a teacher, getting her first day in the classroom the day after her college graduation.

“I’m so competitive and loyal to my teams, if I was going to teach and coach, I knew it had to be at Hylton,” Wilson said.

Wilson said she wants to help students and other teachers have the same great experience that she has had at Hylton. “I have a lot of pride in this particular school and this community,” she said.