Carver Elementary School Principal Kiwana S. Yates, right, is all smiles as she is celebrated during a school assembly Wednesday for winning a 2015 R.E.B. Award for Distinguished Educational Leadership. She was one of four Richmond area principals to be honored by the R.E.B. Foundation in partnership with The Community Foundation. Mrs. Yates was joined by her husband, Darnell Yates, and her mother, Patricia Evans-Branch, at the assembly, where she was presented with a check for $15,000. Half of that is for her personal use. The other $7,500 will be used for educational field trips, she said. “I was very excited and surprised,” Mrs. Yates told the Free Press of the ceremony. “The fact that the staff and students were able to pull off such a wonderful event was priceless. This made my heart melt.”
