It was an ordinary day. Once again I noticed a very familiar name typeset under a photo in my local newspaper. Headline for the story read in bold type: Queen Elizabeth II honors Manheim Township High School graduate. Naturally had to read the story to see if perhaps I might have had the person in question as a student years ago. Story was about a young woman by the name of Wendy Mendenhall who graduated from Manheim Township in 1984.
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| Wendy Mendenhall, 1984 Manheim Township High School graduate. |
Seems her longtime contributions to United Kingdom-United States business relations have recently been honored with her appointment to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Wow! Pretty neat! Wendy served with BritishAmerican Business which is a nonprofit organization that promotes commerce between the United States and the United Kingdom. During Wendy's time at BritishAmerican Business she rose through the ranks to become a global executive-in-charge as well as managing director. A few years ago she stepped down from her duties with the business group. Recently, Antony Phillipson, the British consul general in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America, spoke with Wendy at a June 1 ceremony for U.K.-U.S. relations and told her that "It was your contribution to the U.K.-U.S. business relations that brought us together today. It was at this point that Wendy was honored with her appointment to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. Membership in the order is granted to honor contributions to arts, science and public service. Other recipients into the order in the past have been the Beatles as well as musicians Adele and Ed Sheeran. Wendy accepted the order's badge and citation and said, "It's a real honor to be recognized by Her Majesty." Wendy received a sterling silver badge of the order. The badge had pink and gray ribbons on it as well as an inscription that read: "For God and the Empire."
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| Wendy receiving her award. She looks the same as she did at MTHS. |
Wendy was a graduate of Emerson College in Boston and then worked for a U.K.-based investment banking firm and a British events management company before moving to BritishAmericanBusiness. Wendy now runs Grandview Advisors Inc. which advises non-profits, foundations and small businesses. I found her email address and sent her a note to congratulate her on her recent impressive awards. I was hoping she might remember me from Manheim Township High School. A few hours later I received a return email from Wendy telling me it was nice to hear from me. She also gave me a nice compliment by telling me I was one of her favorite teachers at MTHS. Ended with a wish for a wonderful 4th of July. Wow! I often wonder if any of my former students would ever remember being in any of my classes and her email made my day! Thanks, Wendy for taking your time to make an old teacher feel like a million bucks. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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