Faces Of New Bedford #148: Warley Williams

Meet Warley Williams, 33-year-old Assistant Principal of Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech. After high school, Warley attended UMass Dartmouth hoping to graduate with a degree in Computer Science, but shortly into his first semester, he found out that his now wife was pregnant with their first child. Out of his father’s house and with bills adding up, he knew that he had to do what was right for them at the moment and left school to work at a lumberyard.

During that brutally cold winter, he quickly realized that he needed to find a way to make a better life for his family. With the mounting gang violence in the city during that time, he was inspired to get into education, in a hope to guide the future generations in a better direction. Starting at BCC, he began studying history, eventually returning to finish his degree at UMass.

While attending school, he started substitute teaching for the New Bedford Public School system. He was called to substitute a few times at Whaling City, the alternative high school, as they felt he a had a great way of relating to the students there.

He accepted a full-time history teacher position at Whaling City and after a short period there he was asked to become the principal of the school. He was excited to be a role model to the students there and help kids graduate and further their education or get a job, which prior to their attendance at Whaling City, didn’t have the hope for either.

When the principal position became vacant at Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech, he applied for the position, hoping to impact an even larger population of the city’s youth. Although they had someone else for that position, they offered him the assistant principal position, which he interviewed for and received. Along with his roles as assistant principal, he also is chair of the graduation committee, co-facilitator of the mentor program, co-advisor of the National Honor Society, and Director of Security at the school.

Outside of his career, Warley strives to give back to his community. He is a board of director for the United Way of greater New Bedford; directs summer programs for 8th graders going into high school to close the summer learning gap, and he and his family has hosted a teenager from the Bronx for the Fresh Air Fund for the last five years. Warley is very passionate about helping his community and bettering the future of all kids in the Greater New Bedford area.

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Faces of New Bedford is a project by Colton Simmons. If you are interested in booking a shoot or getting prints from the series email all inquiries to colton@coltonsimmons.com.

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Read more of the Faces of New Bedford series here.