Date:  May 12, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720

Ayleen Cunningham-Sherrill, an ESOL teacher at Fred Lynn Middle School and a Major in the U.S. Army, has been selected as the winner of the 2003 Meritorious Service Award for Military Personnel.   The National Image, Inc., a National Hispanic Organization, recognizes outstanding military personnel from the various branches of service who have made contributions to increase opportunities for Hispanic Americans in the areas of employment, education and civil rights.  Cunningham-Sherrill, along with the other military service branches, will receive their award at the Thirty-First Annual National Image, Inc. Training Conference and Exposition held May 19 through 23 in Hollywood, California.

Cunningham-Sherrill moved from Lima, Peru to the Manassas, Virginia when she was fourteen.  Her English was very limited, and in 1978 the Prince William County Public School system was not equipped to educate non-English speakers. Enrolled in school with no special services for students with limited English proficiency, Cunningham-Sherrill began to sense that her true calling was in the field of education.  Although accepted to George Mason University, she had no funds available to pay for higher education and worked several jobs and enlisted in the Army Reserve.  In 1986, she was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army and graduated with a B.A. in Spanish with Specialization in Multicultural Education in the same year.

In 1989, she accepted a position in Prince William County Schools to teach Spanish courses. By 1991, she obtained ESOL endorsement and began to teach English to speakers of other languages. She has recently received a Master’s degree in Administration and Supervision.  She is currently working toward the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification and recently was awarded a $2,000 grant by the State of Virginia to pursue this endeavor. 

During her more than fourteen years of teaching, Cunningham-Sherrill developed and implemented a Multicultural Club for all students to promote and highlight the many contributions of various minority groups to the United States.  She has also served as a liaison between the school and Unity in the Community, a local advocacy group that attempts to remedy situations involving discrimination and has been a facilitator for the school division’s Multicultural Summer Institute. Last summer Cunningham-Sherrill was selected as the “Citizen of the Month” by the Hispanic newspaper, La Voz (The Voice) for continuing contributions to the local Hispanic community.

Currently she is serving as Secretary to the General Staff with the 9th Theatre Support Command, Fort Belvoir. In addition to balancing two careers, she is the mother of five children.