Wayland honors Clovis alumnus with Distinguished Alumni Award

CLOVIS, N.M. — Wayland Baptist University has honored longtime educator Silvia Miranda with the 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Clovis campus.

Miranda was recognized during a recent private ceremony in Clovis. She will compete with other 2022 campus winners for the Alumnus of the Year Award, which will be presented at Wayland’s Homecoming in February 2023. The university has selected a winner for each of its campuses since 2018.

An educator for more than 14 years, Miranda currently serves as a fifth-grade teacher at Texico Elementary School in Texico, N.M. Previously, she worked in Clovis schools as a kindergarten through second grade reading specialist at both Mesa Elementary and Bickley Elementary after serving several years as an elementary classroom teacher.

Miranda earned her bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University before earning a Master of Education degree at Wayland in 2013. A strong advocate for student and teacher voices in education, she has served on countless committees and task forces to that end. Most recently she served on a state task force to develop a new teacher evaluation system, and she is working on the state’s initiative to recruit and retain educators.

For her efforts in education, Miranda has been recognized at several levels, including nationally. She received the Milken Educator Award in 2018 and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching in 2020. She was named Teacher of the Year for Clovis in 2018 and was a top finalist for the state Teacher of the Year award. She is currently one of 20 educators across the state of New Mexico serving as state ambassador for the NM Teacher Leader Network.

“We’ve watched Silvia Miranda receive honors for several years for her excellence in teaching, and her service to her state shows her commitment to education beyond just her classroom,” said Teresa Young, previous alumni director at Wayland. “She is a great choice to represent Clovis as a distinguished alumnus, and we are pleased to add our recognition to her list of achievements.”