WATCH: GA Educator Wins Principal Of The Year Award

SUWANEE, GA — Collins Hill High School Principal Kerensa Wing was awarded the Principal of the Year award by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and her surprise reception was caught on camera.

She is "recognized as the top principal across this nation," Peter Kruszynski of the National Association of Secondary School Principals said in the video. He called her an "outstanding leader" within the school and community, noting she continues to grow.

She's seen with a bouquet of flowers high fiving students in the gymnasium.

"I'm a little overwhelmed today," Wing said in an interview in the video. "When I turned the corner and saw all the people behind the doors (in the gymnasium) I was like 'oh my,'" she said, grinning.

Dr. Steve Flynt, associate superintendent of Gwinnett County Public Schools, said he has never seen a staff as excited as the one working under Wing. "She's all about the students and the staff."

"She's a collaborator... she doesn't make decisions in a vacuum, she involves the people that are around her," Steven Knudsen of the Gwinnett County Public Schools Board of Education said.

Other finalists for the high honor were Joey Jones, of Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Maryland and Lindsa McIntyre of Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, according to the NASSP.

See more at the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders website.

The NASSP website says "Because the classroom teacher has an enormous impact on student growth, [Wing] views her job of hiring, retaining, and training the best teachers as the most efficient path toward equity for students."

State Superintendent Richard Woods was also in attendance. The south, in the past, has gotten "a knock about education," he said in an interview. On that note, he said it was a great honor to have the top principal of all 50 states right in Gwinnett County.

A student is seen in the video making a speech in front of the school, saying Wing's leadership spans across more than one year alone. "You are our principal of the year every year," the student said, ending with "Wing Out!"

"I'm proud to be able to represent Gwinnett County Public Schools, Collins Hill High School, the State of Georgia, and I was very surprised to have all these folks here today," Wing said in the video.