THE INFLUeNCeRS
BRIaN WaSSOn
Author and teacher at Chapel Hill High School
B
y day, Brian Wasson shapes young minds as an English teacher at Chapel Hill High School; by night, he transforms into a storyteller, letting his creativity soar. Once his wife, Ashly Gaskin-Wasson, and their three children – sons London, 6, and Channing, 3, and daughter Zahara, 9 months, – are peacefully asleep and the house settles into quiet, Brian’s writing process begins. Starting with a scene that captures his imagination, he lets the words flow, often reaching 10,000 before pausing to reflect. “What kind of story can I develop, flesh out and see through from the material I have right now?” he asks himself, shaping his work from the vivid fragments of his late-night inspiration. The Charlotte area native graduated from UNC in 2004 with a bachelor’s in journalism and went on to earn his master’s in English language and literature from North Carolina Central University in 2012. He began his role at CHHS in 2016, following a teaching position in Guilford County Schools and various jobs in journalism. “While I was doing journalism, I kind of wrote some creative fiction on the side, and I joined a writers group,” Brian says, explaining how the intersection between teaching and writing came about. About a month into the writers group, the usual leader announced they were leaving for a tour. “I just kind of volunteered to pick it up and said, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ … So I started teaching in a very haphazard way, and I just liked it.” 58
chapelhillmagazine.com
January/February 2025
I TELL [MY STUDENTS]
to have something I've termed as ‘spiteful persistence.’ If they want to go into creative writing or try to get something published, they’re going to hear ‘no’ infinitely more times than they hear ‘yes,’ but not only can you not internalize the ‘nos,’ you have to make it a point that the only person who can really say ‘no’ to you is yourself.
As an educator, Brian is dedicated to making his students aware of socially and culturally relevant literature, specifically pertaining to students and young adults – he’s even undertaken various grant funding projects to put books of those types in the classroom – and believes it’s important to help his students think critically in a diverse and fast-changing world. “They’ll form these book clubs, and they’ll be writing and discussing and developing podcasts,” Brian says. “And I’ve heard some really profound, insightful knowledge from the podcasts and the things that they write when they do journaling on what they’re reading. “And I see that not only are they learning things about literature characterization or tension or conflict … they’re learning about our world and they’re learning about social justice, equity, inequality, diversity and cultural differences.” Brian’s passion for inspiring the next generation is also evident in how he writes about topics that speak directly to his students’ experiences. He published his first young-adult novel, “Seven Minutes in Candyland,” in December 2023. The book follows a high school sophomore who unexpectedly becomes the impromptu school therapist, after counseling his crush through her relationship struggles. “So mental health is a really big angle in the book,” Brian says. “The settings for my stories so far have been high school settings, and being around high school kids pretty much all the time, I kind of get information and just knowledge and vernacular almost by osmosis,” Brian says. “I just kind of soak it in … so that’s always been a really good asset to be in such close proximity to these kids that, for the most part, I’m kind of writing about or I write things that they can very much relate to. Or at least I strive to do that.” Brian also writes many of his stories with a young Black male protagonist. “I want them to see that: You are in books, you’re worthy to be the main character and you’re worthy to have a good outcome of the story, whatever happens to be told,” he says. “And I also just want their problems and their issues and their worries to be recognized.” His next book, “Two Truths and a Lionel,” is set to release in April and follows protagonist Lionel as he discovers that what makes him a good person is not his heroic deeds but how he treats friends and family. Brian aims to ignite his students’ creative ambitions, encouraging them to pursue their passions in any form that speaks to them. But at the very least, he strives to make his English class a space where young minds can explore, grow and find their voice. “I hope that students take that literature doesn’t have to be tedious or boring and that critical thinking doesn’t just have to come from the teacher,” Brian says. “It can come from the students. … They have stories to write, they have things to say. And I don’t ever want them to lose their awareness of those truths.” – by Leah Berry