Brian Mahoney, founding partner of Percept Research, was recently honored by his alma mater. Mr. Mahoney received the Dr. Virginia Wilson Outstanding Alumni Volunteer Award. This is one of the highest alumni honors awarded by the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) and is bestowed to an alumnus who has demonstrated outstanding volunteerism and has served the school in an official capacity. The NCSSM Alumni Association presents four alumni awards each year to distinguished graduates for their remarkable achievements and outstanding contributions to the school and their community.
NCSSM is the nation's first public, residential high school with a specialized curriculum in science, math and technology, founded on the historic grounds of the former Watts Hospital in Durham, N.C. As a constituent of the University of North Carolina, the school currently hosts 650 academically gifted North Carolina high school juniors and seniors. NCSSM has never left Newsweek's list of the "elites" -- the 20 high schools in the United States that have, as Newsweek put it last June, "few or no average students." Despite the name, NCSSM has a robust humanities program, and its faculty is correspondingly formidable -- all have master's degrees, one-third hold doctorates, and a quarter are national board certified -- and 99 percent of NCSSM students attend college the year after high school graduation.
This prestigious award is named after Dr. Virginia Wilson who recently retired from the school. A founding faculty member at NCSSM, Dr. Wilson has served as an instructor and the dean of humanities for over 28 years. She designed the school’s initial interdisciplinary course and pioneered its distance education program. A 1990 graduate, Brian had her as an instructor for several courses and said, "This award is especially meaningful as Dr. Wilson is cherished teacher and mentor to me. She challenged me to become a better writer and student of history. Her guidance had a tremendous impact."
Brian Mahoney and Dr. Virginia Wilson
Mr. Mahoney served on the NCSSM Foundation Board of Directors as well as served as President of the Alumni Association for the last two years. He has served on the Alumni Board of Directors in various officer roles since 2004. Under his leadership, the NCSSM Alumni Board has recorded many notable achievements including expanded alumni communications with social networking and monthly newsletters along with increased volunteer contributions by the school's graduates. The association now hosts monthly social events and has started the school's first regional alumni chapters.
Through his role has president, Mr. Mahoney has worked to raise additional funds for the NCSSM Annual Fund with yearly contributions gaining three-fold during his tenure. When asked about the recognition, he stated, "The alumni awards are a wonderful tradition at the annual Alumni Weekend and one of many examples of how the school recognizes alumni for their dedication to the school. This award supports the Alumni Association's mission to actively engage and support alumni in a lifelong relationship with NCSSM."