Dr. Cassandra Miller-Washington, the District’s Director of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education, has been named Region II CTAE Administrator of the Year. Dr. Miller-Washington advanced to regional competition after being named State Administrator of the Year by the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education at the association's conference last summer. She now advances to the national ACTE awards competition in New Orleans on Nov. 19-22.

Founded in 1926, GACTE is the largest education association in Georgia dedicated to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. Its purpose is to provide leadership in developing an educated, prepared, adaptable and competitive workforce. The ACTE Region II Conference was held September 24-27 in Montgomery, Ala. ACTE's Region II includes state associations in Alabama, the Bahamas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Dr. Miller‐Washington first began her journey in education by way of a career in hospitality management. She moved to Macon after graduating from Tuskegee University in 1994 to work as the Manager of Campus Dining for Aramark at Mercer University. While working at Mercer, she joined the university's first cohort of the Executive Master of Business Administration program and received her MBA in 1998. Afterward, she began working with two of the Edison Schools in Bibb County ‐ King Edison and Riley Edison.

Dr. Miller‐Washington happened to meet her mentor, Ella Carter, about the same time the Bibb County School District and Edison Schools decided not renew their partnership in 2002. At the time, Mrs. Carter was serving as principal of Northeast High School and she encouraged Dr. Miller‐Washington to become a Marketing teacher at Northeast through Georgia’s Teacher Alternative Preparation Program.

Dr. Miller‐Washington worked at Northeast from 2002‐2007, during which time she served in many capacities, including Marketing teacher, CTAE Department Chair, Instructional Lead Teacher, and Junior and Senior Class Adviser. She was also named Northeast's Teacher of the Year for the 2004‐2005 school year.

In 2007, Dr. Miller‐Washington moved to Central High School, where she remained for two years, to revamp Central's Marketing program. Later, when she became a CTAE Supervisor in 2009, she oversaw the opening of the Video Broadcasting Lab at Central.

In 2010, she received her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Capella University. She took over as Director of the CTAE Department in December 2012.