The Mary L. Johnson Travelship Award is truly unique among awards honoring a Wayland teacher or, for that matter, among awards honoring any teacher anywhere. The award is presented in memory of Wayland High School graduate Mary L. Johnson (WHS ‘81) who died in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Johnson family established the Mary L. Johnson Travelship to honor annually a Wayland Public School teacher who “loves children, respects them, and helps them grow beyond themselves.”
Since 1990, the teachers selected have been career educators who “teach for teaching’s sake and have devoted their lives to sending Wayland’s youngsters off in new and exciting directions.” It affords teachers the opportunity to travel on journeys that might not otherwise be possible. The award plaque itself befittingly consists of an antique compass and lauds the recipient “for helping a generation of Wayland youngsters find their own true north.”
This year’s award, the 30th in its history, went to retiring Dramatic Arts teacher Richard Weingartner. At the award ceremony, Superintendent Paul Stein started the meeting by talking about what is special about this award noting, “I’ve always thought it’s one of the most incredible professional honors that I’ve ever heard of. It is truly a gift without strings, that just says we want to honor folks who very much have a passion for teaching, love kids, do the hard work of challenging and supporting them.” He added, “Just to have this kind of gift that says: Take it, do what you want with it. The irony is that the specialness of what results ends up being much more valuable than just prescribing a certain kind of award.”
Mary’s father, Bob Johnson, and two of her siblings, Anne Johnson Evans and Tom Johnson, were there for the award presentation, with Tom awarding the plaque and conveying the family’s appreciation for Wayland’s teachers. Bob thanked the teachers and appreciated the thanks they have shown him, and noted that the one person who hasn’t been able to thank anyone is his daughter, Mary. He proceeded to read a poem, to “say something that Mary might say” were she there:
To Mr, Sir, To Mrs, Miss, and Ma’am,
To each of you who always give a damn
Teach me, teach me, help me learn,
help me make the fires burn
Deep inside me
Help me know how to live and love and grow
Give me wisdom, strength and will,
I thank you then, I thank you still
As has become tradition, the room was filled with an all-star cast of 15 of the prior 29 winners, teachers whose careers spanned years from the 1960s to the present. Each of them spoke describing their travels; collectively these were trips which covered Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, Alaska, Hawaii, other locations in the United States, and even Disneyworld. All expressed their gratitude and described the life-changing impact that their trips had for them. One teacher talked about going to Lockerbie and seeing Mary there everywhere, finding her name remembered in memorials.
Dr. Stein spoke with wonder about the purpose of the award, noting that “it’s an affirmation because it really came out of a tragedy having to do with travel — and we are currently living in a time when travel, particularly to foreign countries, is no longer the safest thing to do anymore; it’s not carefree. But this award, given where it started — and this hadn’t occurred to me in the past — really says, ‘You know what? I’m gonna stare you down in the face and we are going to make this award about travel.’ I think that’s incredible. And as I’ve said, given the times we are living in, it’s more important now than ever; I’m so appreciative of that element as well.”
Submitted by the Wayland School Committee
