Mill Creek recognizes Waddail as ‘Teacher of the Year’

MADISON – Alicia Waddail loves to celebrate small victories.

“Seeing former students graduate and move on their preferred job or college always brings a joyful tear to my eye,” Waddail said. Mill Creek Elementary School selected Waddail as “Teacher of the Year” for 2025.

Waddail felt “complete and utter shock” about her award. “I saw the Prize Patrol in the hallway, so I knew they were making their rounds,” she said.

“Dr. Nichols called my name and said they were there to see me. I said, ‘Why?’ I was in total shock when they turned the big check around,” Waddail said.

In 2004, her career started in Savannah, Ga. with fifth-grade inclusion and then sixth-grade inclusion with that group. She coached softball and track.

“My husband Jeff and I moved to Huntsville; I worked as a self-contained teacher at Sparkman High School from 2006-2012,” she said.

“It was time for a change, so I took a position as an aide in Transition K-1 at Mill Creek,” she said. “I heard how wonderful MCS special education programs were, along with the system. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Waddail then worked as inclusion and Transition K-1 teacher at Mill Creek, transferred to Columbia Elementary School but returned to Mill Creek in 2017. “It’s my work home,” she said.

“Seeing the pride on students’ faces when they pass a difficult assignment on their own accord, reaching a goal and watching their overall growth and development continues to give me insurmountable joy,” Waddail said.

Teaching is not a profession that people choose for their own victories. “This is a profession where everything I do is for my students and coworkers. When I see them succeed, I succeed,” Waddail said.

Waddail has ‘a good day’ when her students achieve their small victories like these examples:

* Earning all ‘happy faces’ on their behavior chart by using coping skills to solve a difficult situation.

* Completing an assignment 100 percent independently.

* Finally understanding and solving a math problem.

* Applying skills that were a struggle in previous years.

* Hugging Waddail “because they know I love them and pushed them to do their best because I know they are the best,” she said.

“My daddy was in the Army. I lay claim to Germantown, Ill. as my ‘hometown,” Waddail said. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a bachelor’s degree in special education, collaborative P-12; master’s degree in elementary education from University of West Alabama; and instructional leadership certification from University of North Alabama.

Her husband Jeff works as Regional Credit Manager at UCBI Bank. The Waddails’ children are Lanie, freshman at James Clemens High School, and Luke, a sixth-grader at Liberty Middle School.

Most of Alicia’s acquaintances don’t realize that she ‘keeps the book’ for her children’s baseball/softball tournaments. “My kids enjoy that because it keeps me from being the ‘loud mom.’”

“I love to be outside and all things sports: baseball/softball, football, basketball, hockey. Attending my kids’ events is by far my favorite, but I’ll watch anything,” Alicia said.

She and Jeff are dedicated to Make-A-Wish Foundation. They’ve completed the Trailblaze Challenge, a 26.3-mile fundraising hike, and hope their children will join them next year. Several MCS students have had their wishes granted recently, another excellent reason for their continued support.