Alumni Awards
The Durham Academy Alumni Board has recognized more than 60 alumni and 15 current or former members of the faculty and staff with alumni awards over the past four decades. The Distinguished Alumni Award has been bestowed annually since 1983, and the Faculty and Staff Legacy Award was established in 2012. In addition to these annual honors, the board may choose to also honor an alumnus with the Alumni Service Award, which was established in 2014.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Each year, a recipient is selected by a Distinguished Alumni Award Committee. Through this award, the Alumni Board aims "to recognize individuals who have distinguished themselves in their business, profession or vocation and through their actions have demonstrated concern for, and service to, their community. The individuals should have shown loyalty to Durham Academy, and their personal values and achievements should be representative of Durham Academy's highest ideals."
2026 Distinguished Alumni Award Honoree: Brendan Bradley '01
2026 Distinguished Alumni Award honoree Brendan Andolsek Bradley ’01 is a multidisciplinary actor and creative pioneer whose work spans live stage performance, film and television, video games, digital media and immersive experiences. His career bridges institutional and independent work, rooted in his belief that entertainment should invite audience engagement.
Outside the entertainment industry, Bradley is best known as an actor, with roles ranging from a three-year stint as “The Staples Guy” in over 50 commercials to acting alongside Dolly Parton in her 2022 holiday special, Mountain Magic Christmas. He has been recognized by South by Southwest, the Producers Guild of America and the VR Awards for blending compelling character work with technological innovation. At New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Bradley founded the Innovation Lab to integrate interactive technology into the performing arts curriculum.
He has also created supportive storytelling tools for the acting community. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bradley shared free tools and tutorials for creators trapped at home and fostered community within the theatre-technology industry via his podcast. He has earned recognition as a pioneer in live virtual reality (VR) events and performance, and he has performed both virtually and in person at festivals and venues around the world.
Bradley has been a longtime advocate for artists and creative labor, serving as a lead strike captain during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA labor movement. His work also includes long-term mentorship and education initiatives, as well as international speaking engagements focused on equity, authorship and the evolving future of storytelling. Bradley earned a B.F.A. from Tisch and trained at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and the Groundlings Theatre & School in Los Angeles.
Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
Faculty and Staff Legacy Award
The Alumni Board grants this award annually to the faculty and/or staff member(s) who, in their service to the school and its mission, best represent the alumni’s aspirations for Durham Academy. Recipients embody the best of the teaching profession in general and are committed to excellence at DA; share a substantial history with the school and have impacted a significant number of alumni; have imparted lessons that transcend subject matter and extend beyond classrooms; have instilled values in students that continue to play a role in the lives of alumni beyond graduation; and serve as pillars of the DA community by representing the school's mission and core values of living moral, happy and productive lives.
2026 Faculty & Staff Legacy Award Honoree: Robert Wilson
2026 Faculty and Staff Legacy Award recipient Robert Wilson served in a variety of roles over the course of his 35 years at DA Middle School. During his tenure — from 1990 to 2025 — he brought an empathetic, encouraging approach to roles including math teacher, class advisor, club sponsor, task force chair, team leader and the Middle School’s first-ever Dean of Students. Wilson was honored with the F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award in 2000.
Wilson’s extensive teaching, mentoring and administrative career was all spent with Middle School-aged students. “Understanding,” “extremely encouraging” and “patient” are words some of his former students used to describe him in their sixth grade hero book projects — keepsakes that he counts among his proudest professional honors. Wilson introduced generations of DA Middle School students to algebra. An avid angler, he supported student passions while serving as the Middle School’s club coordinator — launching clubs to inspire future outdoor enthusiasts, sports fans and more.
Wilson also modeled lifelong learning for his students. In 2007, he earned a Master of School Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Brenda B. Brodie Sabbatical recipient. In the 1998 Evergreen yearbook dedication, students recognized Wilson for making them feel seen and heard both inside and outside of the classroom, where he spent “hours listening to us, let us hang out in his classroom when we didn’t have anywhere else to go, took us on fishing trips, and made us think about people and places far from our own lives.”
Alumni Faculty and Staff Legacy Award Recipients
Alumni Service Award
This award, granted at the discretion of the Alumni Board, recognizes an alum with superior service in the public sector, or a sustained pattern of volunteer service in the community. Recipients have demonstrated a continued connection to Durham Academy and its core values of living a moral, happy and productive life.
2024 Alumni Service Award Honoree: Derek Rhodes '11
2024 Alumni Service Award recipient Derek Rhodes ’11 is a business strategist, community leader, social entrepreneur, author and captivating keynote speaker. With a career spanning Microsoft, the Miami HEAT, the Obama Foundation, the White House and Google, Rhodes has amassed deep expertise in helping businesses engage with their local communities.
A graduate of Duke University with a degree in Public Policy Studies, Rhodes’ journey began with internships at the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House. His determination caught the attention of none other than President Barack Obama, who publicly recognized Rhodes at a press briefing in 2015. Three years later, as part of the Obama Foundation in 2018, Derek managed the distribution of over $1 million in grant funding to nonprofit organizations serving young people across the country, leading the My Brother's Keeper Alliance.
Driven by a passion for empowering historically underestimated youth, particularly young Black men, Rhodes founded the Durham Success Summit. As the executive director, he has built lasting relationships and championed the organization's mission to elevate underrepresented youths into corporate America through practical education and exposure. Since 2021, more than 200 young men have benefited from the organization’s career skills training and workforce development programs. Ninety percent of the program’s graduates find meaningful employment upon completion and have landed jobs at top companies such as Fidelity Investments and the National Basketball Association.
Rhodes’ insights and community contributions earned him recognition as one of Triangle Business Journal's 40 Under 40 business leaders in 2022, as well as features in Business Insider.
He remains active on numerous boards, including the Board of Visitors for Duke University, as well as a City Council-appointed commissioner seat on the City of Durham's Racial Equity Commission.