Muriel Summers (A.B.Ed. ’79) has been named Wake County Public School System’s 2016-17 Principal of the Year.
Summers is principal at Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, where she has served in that role since 1997.
Summers has received national and worldwide recognition for her work in using Franklin Covey’s “7 Habits” program to establish Combs as the first leadership elementary school in the nation. Summers co-authored a book about the experience, “The Leader in Me,” a program that has been adopted by more than 3,000 schools in 50 countries around the world. By adopting the “Leader in Me” program, schools seek to help students develop cooperative relationships, a sense of responsibility, kindness and good judgment.
Summers and Combs Elementary have won numerous awards during her tenure at the school. Combs was named the top magnet school in the nation in 2006 and 2014 by Magnet Schools of America. With the 2014 recognition, Combs became the first school to be named the top magnet school for a second time.
That same year, Combs was awarded the William B. Friday Medal of Honor, one of the highest honors given to North Carolina educators.
By being named Wake County’s Principal of the Year, Summers enters the state’s Principal of the Year competition.