In 2008, Emily Z. Wagner of Germantown Academy in Fort Washington was awarded the title of NECTFL Teacher of the Year by the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. She then became one of five regional candidates nominated for the National Teacher of the Year Award sponsored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. In 2007, Wagner was named Educator of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association. The award honors distinguished teaching in world languages. She was recognized during the association’s annual conference held in October 2007 in King of Prussia.

Wagner says that more than 91 per cent of GA students continue their world language study through graduation and often pick up a second or third language in college. Wagner says, “Being able to communicate, linguistically and culturally, in another language, is a valuable tool in the increasingly global workplace.”

She said that working with children helps her grow personally and professionally, every day. According to Richard House, Head of Middle School at GA, “The award bestowed upon her is most fitting as her knowledge and passion for the Francophone world are the result of a lifetime’s devotion to France and to the French language.”