Leadership
Respect, Accountability, Integrity, Service, and Excellence
At Wake Preparatory Academy, we are passionate about helping students become leaders. We R.A.I.S.E. leaders through Respect, Accountability, Integrity, Service and Excellence. These values are more than words, they are who we are, and who we are becoming. Leadership isn’t one more thing we do. Leadership is the thing we do.
WPA has developed a powerful leadership curriculum to help teachers be more influential leaders in the classroom, and to help students develop leadership skills that will help them excel academically and in their extra-curricular activities, and to be a positive influence in their home and community.
Weekly leadership lessons are taught to every student. Students are invited to take these lessons home and share them with their families. In addition to the weekly lessons, leadership is taught and demonstrated every day, in every class. We believe that “example is not the main thing in influencing other people; it’s the only thing.” (Dr. Albert Schweitzer)
Uniting Some Of The Greatest Minds Into One Curriculum
The R.A.I.S.E leadership program has assembled some of the most powerful leadership principles derived from human development experts such as, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, James Kouzes, Barry Posner, Chris Brady, Jim Collins, Napoleon Hill, John Maxwell, Werner Ehrhard and many others. These leadership principles are woven into the fabric of everything we do at WPA.
Our goal is to design our campus in such a way that leadership quotes and principles emblazoned on the walls of our hallways; teachers naturally weaving leadership principles into their curriculum; students treating each other with respect; students being accountable for their own learning; students honoring their word; students seeking to serve their teachers and their peers; students seeking excellence and improvement in everything they do.
This is the WPA way. This is our commitment to our community.
RESPECT
IF WE DON'T RESPECT EVERYONE THEN WE CAN RESPECT NO ONE, INCLUDING OURSELVES.
– JIM SELMAN
ACCOUNTABILITY
EVERYTHING IN YOUR LIFE IS A REFLECTION OF A CHOICE YOU HAVE MADE. IF YOU WANT A DIFFERENT RESULT, MAKE A DIFFERENT CHOICE.
– AUTHOR UNKNOWN
INTEGRITY
THE SUPREME QUALITY OF LEADERSHIP IS UNQUESTIONABLY INTEGRITY. WITHOUT IT, NO REAL SUCCESS IS POSSIBLE.
– DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
SERVICE
WHEN WE ARE WILLING TO SERVE OTHERS, WE FIND OUR VOICE AND OUR GREATEST SELVES.
– STEPHEN R. COVEY
EXCELLENCE
WE ARE GOING TO RELENTLESSLY CHASE PERFECTION, KNOWING FULL WELL WE WILL NOT CATCH IT, BECAUSE NOTHING IS PERFECT. BUT WE ARE GOING TO RELENTLESSLY CHASE IT, BECAUSE IN THE PROCESS WE WILL CATCH EXCELLENCE.
– VINCE LOMBARDI
Hilda Alston Parlér - Founder
Honoring Vision and Purpose
Mrs. Hilda Parlér is the founder of Wake Preparatory Academy and previously served as the first board president. She continues to play a leadership role with the school as the community liaison for Charter One, the education management organization for the school.
Since she was a young girl at the age of 7, it has been her lifelong dream to open her own school. She accomplished that with the help of many. Hilda refers to herself as a "retired and still wired educator," having taught middle school mathematics for 28 years and served as a curriculum specialist for 4.5 years. After retiring "on paper" in 2013, Hilda founded her first charter school in 2014.
Hilda’s many accolades include being a 3rd-term current member of the State Charter Schools Review Board, being a 2021 Town of Wake Forest Black History Month Honor Roll Honoree for Outstanding Community Service, and being named Wake Forest Woman’s Club Clubwoman of the Year for Outstanding Community Service with a focus on serving and educating children. She is the currently elected state president of the NC Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for Key Women Educators (an honor society) for the biennium 2023-2025.