2015 Parent Volunteer Award Goes to Theresa and Chris Waddell

Named after its first recipient, Howard Kallem, SEPTA’s annual Parent Volunteer or “Howie” award is given jointly by SEPTA and the leadership of the Arlington Special Education Advisory Committee (“ASEAC”), to parent volunteers who have shown exceptional commitment to helping Arlington’s children and youth reach their potential. At the November 12 meeting and Superintendent Chat, SEPTA was pleased to honor APS parents Theresa and Chris Waddell with this year’s Howie award.

In 2010, Theresa initiated and became the first President of SEPTA – which was the first PTA of its kind in Virginia. Chris served as SEPTA president from 2012 – 2014. In Theresa’s words, “We started SEPTA to build a community where parents and teachers can connect and come together to help our kids. We have been and still are active members of several parent support groups, locally and nationally, and they do a great job to help parents know and feel that we’re not alone, but, without input from the professionals who work with our kids on a day-to-day basis, they don’t always help us solve the challenges faced by our families. The idea of a SEPTA was to bring everyone who is involved in our children’s education together and be on the ‘same side of the table.'”

But the Waddells’ contributions go way beyond their SEPTA leadership. While Chris served as president of the Autism Society of Northern Virginia, the Waddells began several annual community events including their most popular event, sensory friendly movies. Inspired after their middle son was asked to leave a theatre for walking up and down the stairs, that program has since become a national partnership with AMC theatres. Chris and Theresa began helping families like theirs by raising money and awareness for the Organization for Autism Research. With the help of many friends, they began an annual Casino Night Fundraiser in 2009. After son Paul required assistance from the Arlington Police following an elopement, they donated Project Lifesaver – a search and rescue program used to help locate loved ones with autism, Alzheimer’s or other conditions who tend to wander away from home – to Arlington County in 2009. So far the county has conducted two successful rescues.

Theresa and Chris have been nominated for the Investment News Community Service Award and were named by the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation as DC Autism Heroes. The family was profiled on ABC World News Tonight as well as the Washington Post, and made the cover of Exceptional Parent Magazine. Congratulations to Theresa and Chris on their well deserved recognition!