The Prince William Regional Counselors Association (PWRCA) has selected Carolyn Lamm, guidance counselor at Penn Elementary School, and William “Dwight” Edmonds, a counselor at Parkside Middle School, as Counselors of the Year.  The Association has also named William Bixby, assistant principal at Stonewall Jackson High School, as Supportive Administrator of the Year.

Lamm will represent Prince William in awards programs of the Virginia Counselors Association and the Virginia School Counselors Association.  She has been an elementary guidance counselor in Prince William County Public Schools for more than ten years, serving earlier at Marumsco Hills Elementary School.  Lamm was among the first counselors at the elementary level to establish a formal peer meditation program.  She initially began this program at Marumsco Hills, where it still exists, and has now established the same program at Penn, where her “Peer Helpers” are trained to serve as mediators to solve conflicts between students.
 She was instrumental in bringing the Comprehensive Child Study program to Penn during the 1999-2000 school year. This program provides services to families such as in-home counseling, mentorships and resource management information, which school administrators say has ultimately improved student well-being, academic performance, and school attendance.

 Lamm graduated from West Virginia University with a major in psychology and a minor in education. She earned Master of Arts degrees from that school in reading education and in counseling and guidance.

William “Dwight” Edmonds
Parkside Middle School
Middle School Counselor of the Year

Dwight Edmonds, Middle School Counselor of the Year, has been a guidance counselor at Parkside Middle School since 1989, and was named guidance director there in 1999.  From 1969 to 1989 he taught technology education at schools in Prince William County, Fredericksburg and Kentucky and was an assistant principal in Manassas Park.
Brenda Collier, guidance director at Benton Middle School and a former colleague of Edmonds, said, “Dwight Edmonds is a ‘kids first’ counselor.  He has a deep understanding of the role that counselors play as the advocate for students….He is also the guru of technology for guidance and counseling.  He has developed many time-saving software applications to assist counselors in managing their programs.”

 Edmonds has been a member of the school division’s mediation team and a coordinator/trainer of student peer mediation.  He has coached wrestling, baseball, and softball.   A graduate of Virginia Tech with a B.S. in industrial arts education, Edmonds earned a M.S. in administration and supervision of vocational and technical education and a M.S. in middle school guidance, both also from Virginia tech.  He has completed special training in computer systems, mediation, teen counseling, drug and alcohol abuse, student mediation and special education.

William Bixby
Stonewall Jackson High School
Supportive Administrator

 Bill Bixby, assistant principal of Stonewall Jackson High School since 1998, came to Stonewall and the school division in 1988 as a social studies teacher.  He later served as department chairman and has been student council advisor since 1993.  Bixby was named coordinator of the school’s International Baccalaureate program in 1995.  Before coming to Prince William County, he was a resident director at the University of Maryland and taught social studies in Massachusetts.  A graduate of the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in history education, Bixby earned a Master of Arts in American History from the University of Maryland and completed the Education Specialist-Administrative Leadership program at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.

 “When thinking of who is supportive to me and my fellow counselors,” says Stonewall counselor Amy Charland, “Mr. Bixby is the one who comes to mind.  He truly supports our role in the school.  He values our input and he relies heavily on our expertise and knowledge when making decisions for students.”

 Says another colleague, George Deabler, “I have been a school counselor for over 20 years.  In that time I have been associated with very few administrators who appreciate the role of the counselor to the degree demonstrated by Bill Bixby.”