Woodland Middle School’s Seth Gardner Named Teacher of the Year
 

Superintendent Lori White presents the trophy to 2010-2011 overall Sarasota County Teacher of the Year Seth Gardner.

Sarasota, Florida – March 24, 2010 – Seth Gardner, vocal music director at North Port’s Woodland Middle School, was named Sarasota County’s 2010-2011 Teacher of the Year at today’s annual awards luncheon.

Selected from three finalists for the district title, Gardner accepted the honor with humor and humility. “Whatever the other reasons we went into education, we all wanted to shape lives the way our lives were shaped,” he said, recalling important teachers in his life. “They gave me experiences that I could never have had.” The choir, guitar and technology teacher relocated from Michigan with his wife Cher, also an educator, and joined the faculty at the new North Port middle school in 2007.

Gardner accepted the keys to an electric blue 2010 Chevrolet HHR, his to drive for a year courtesy of Sunset Chevrolet. He begins a one-year term as goodwill ambassador for the teaching profession at events throughout the school district and the community. He will also represent Sarasota County Schools in the statewide competition for the 2011 Florida Department of Education/Macy’s Teacher of the Year this summer.

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County and the Sarasota County School Board produce the district’s Teacher of the Year program. Premier Sponsors include the Nova Southeastern University - Fischler School of Education and Human Services, Publix Super Markets Charities, and Sunset Chevrolet Buick GMC. The Notre Dame Club of Greater Sarasota is a Diamond Sponsor. Gold Sponsors are VALIC, McDonald’s of Sarasota, and the Sarasota County School-Based Administrators Association. Sarasota County School District Administrators and Herff Jones-Steve Kline are Silver Sponsors.

The three finalists for this year’s title were selected from 41 candidates nominated by their schools. A delegation led by Superintendent Lori White, School Board Chairman Shirley Brown, and Education Foundation Executive Director Cindy Kaiser traveled to three schools to surprise the winners earlier this month. One each from the elementary, middle, and high school levels were selected by a panel of former Teachers of the Year, educators, and community volunteers. The other two finalists were Elementary School Teacher of the Year Karen Johns, a music education specialist at Lakeview Elementary School, and High School Teacher of the Year Melissa Dweck, a drama teacher at Sarasota High School.

According to the district’s Teacher of the Year coordinator, Dr. Patricia Brustad, the program recognizes educators who meet the highest standards for leadership, professionalism, communication skills, commitment to student achievement, and dedication to the teaching profession. In school districts across the nation, the Teacher of the Year program focuses attention on the contributions of teachers and honors those who have the gift of inspiring a love of learning in their students. Time after time, by most every test and measure – reading, writing, math, and college readiness – Sarasota County students place at the top in the state of Florida. Their achievements reflect the quality of the teachers in the county’s public schools.

Cindy Kaiser, Executive Director of the Education Foundation, presented major cash awards to Gardner, Dweck and Johns at the awards ceremony. All three finalists also received scholarships from Nova Southeastern University and gift bags from McDonald’s of Sarasota. Dweck and Johns are invited to attend the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Conference at the University of Notre Dame, all expenses paid, courtesy of the Notre Dame Club of Greater Sarasota. The district’s top Teacher of the Year receives a gift certificate to Ruth’s Chris Steak House in addition to the new 2010 Chevrolet HHR on a year’s lease, a gift from Sunset Chevrolet Buick GMC. All 41 individual schools’ Teachers of the Year receive a variety of gifts, including an engraved brass school bell and a quality professional portrait by Bryn-Alan Prestige Portraits.
 
 

	Karen Johns, Elementary School Teacher of the year, enjoys the film clip of Lakeview Elementary colleagues and pupils celebrating her achievement.
	Education Foundation’s Executive Director Cindy Kaiser, High School Teacher of the Year Melissa Dweck, and sponsor Steve Kline react to Dweck’s students praise for their drama coach.
	Seth Gardner and Teacher of the Year program coordinator Patti Brustad.
	(L to R) Sponsor Nova Southeastern University’s Les Ross, Jr., Bill Lance, April Fleming and Tony Thompson congratulate Seth Gardner, center.

 April 10 Chili Cook Off – benefiting the Education Foundation’s Student Emergency Fund -- throughout the county and beyond our borders. Great food for a great cause.

Invite your friends!

Sarasota, Florida – March 16, 2010 – Nail-biting rounds, rapidly switching leads, hard-fought challenges, and expectations of upsets marked the finals of the 2010 Academic Olympics Saturday. After eight weeks of tough competition, each of the top four teams – Cardinal Mooney, North Port High School, Riverview High School and Pine View – arrived with high hopes and played to win. In the final game, Riverview led after the first round, but Pine View surged to take the trophy with a 199-144 win over the Rams.

The college bowl-style competition, now in its 29th year, is the only program for Sarasota County high schools that provides the opportunity for competitive team efforts in academics comparable to athletics.

Eight local high schools competed in weekly round robin play from January through March. Semi-finals matches determined the four final teams on March 9. The day-long finals tournament was held March 13 at the Sarasota County School Board auditorium in The Landings.

From April 15-17, an All-Star Team selected by the coaches will advance to the 25th Florida Education Commissioner’s Academic Challenge at Walt Disney World. Coach Blake Wiley will accompany the team, which includes captain James Bedell, Theo Breen and Taylor Schwimmer (Pine View), Preston Davis (Riverview High School), Donnie Morrow (Sarasota High School), and Keifer O'Connor (Cardinal Mooney).

Over the years, members of the Sarasota County teams have won scholarships and competed nationally with Team Florida. All-Star Team travel and accommodation expenses are covered by the Education Foundation of Sarasota County, which produces the series in partnership with the schools.

The Olympians are some of Sarasota County’s most academically talented students. Each has earned a place on his or her school team through a rigorous competition at the school level. Eight teams competed this year, including a team from each of the comprehensive public high schools in Sarasota County. Coaches include Rosemary Schmidt (Booker High School), Jaime Patmor (Cardinal Mooney). Peter Hinman-Cosola (North Port), Blake Wiley (Pine View), Christina Feasley (Riverview), Austin Dunk (Sarasota), Penny Schroeder (Sarasota Military Academy), and Paul Bono (Venice). Elizabeth Bloechl directs the program for the fourteenth consecutive year.

The ACADEMIC OLYMPIC GOLD sponsor is the Dart Foundation. OLYMPIC BRONZE sponsor is the American Association of University Women (AAUW) – Venice Branch. Other contributors underwrite participants with gifts of $100 to sponsor a student.

Both Venice and Sarasota branches of the AAUW support the program by recruiting, training and deploying volunteers. The Military Officers Association of Sarasota donates prizes awarded to the student teams.
The Military Officers All-Stars will play the Sarasota County All-Star Team in an exhibition match at Pine View on March 23 starting at 3:15 p.m. The public is welcome. Guests on campus must register at the main office.

Results of the March 13 finals:

Semi Final Game 1, Moderator Mimi Welch:
Riverview 171 – Cardinal Mooney 169

Semi Final Game 2, Moderator Barbara Price:
Pine View 220 – North Port 96

Consolation Game for Third Place, Moderator Eloise Malinsky:
Cardinal Mooney 182 – North Port 113

Final Game, Moderator Kathy Schersten:
Pine View 199 – Riverview 144

 
Over 80 guests enjoyed the Education Foundation’s Spring Planned Giving Advisory Luncheon at the Field Club on March 11, 2010. The event, sponsored by PNC Wealth Management, featured Superintendent Lori White with a report on Sarasota County Schools. Keynote speaker Linda Larsen energized the group with her lively talk, entitled “The Power of Your Passion.” Executive Director Cindy Kaiser and Planned Giving/Endowment Chair Chris Pfahler recognized members of the Visionary Society, supporters who are making provisions for the Education Foundation in their estate plans. Board members and PNC’s Senior Investment Officer Scott Merritt closed the event. “I’ll never forget the teacher who changed my life,” he said. “If we can’t be teachers, we can change lives as givers, and give teachers and students what they need to succeed.”
 
 

Sarasota High School student painting inspires $25,000 winning bid
 

Sarasota High School junior Sarah Nowicki with her painting, “Regress into a Dream,” which won the record Evening of Excellence auction bid of $25,000 Friday

Sarasota, Florida – March 1, 2010 – His voice was fading, but it came back strong when auctioneer Jimmy Dean announced the winning bid for Regress into a Dream, a striking acrylic painting by Sarasota High School junior Sarah Nowicki. Final bid for the piece was $25,000, setting an all-time record for a single work of student art at the Education Foundation of Sarasota County’s 15th annual Evening of Excellence benefit Friday night.

The winning bid was made by philanthropist Allan H. Weis, the event’s Honorary Chairman. Weis announced plans to donate the piece back to Nowicki’s school to be displayed in her honor.

The event grossed well over $250,000 in cash and in-kind support, including a live auction total of $51,400. Education Foundation executive director Cindy Kaiser and board chairman David Sessions thanked 405 guests for attending and recognized this year’s award-winning high school artists, their parents and their art teachers. Meg Mahoney chaired the 2010 event committee of twenty-eight dedicated volunteers. The event’s theme, IMAGINE, was inspired by one of last year’s student paintings – Figment – by Booker High School’s Tatum Leitch. The evening also featured entertainment by the Riverview High School Center Stage Choir, under the direction of David Verdoni.

Evening of Excellence is both an innovative art program and an established Sarasota social event that raises significant funds each year, benefitting 41,500 students in the public schools through the work of the Education Foundation. The event combines an elegant dinner with a spirited auction that puts the 25 Best of the Best student art works on the auction block. The program has raised more than $1.75 million for Sarasota County’s public schools over the past fifteen years, while raising awareness about the vital role the arts play in learning.

Student art awards of $500 to $2,000 were presented to each of the 22 winning students, three of whom landed two pieces in the top 25. Combining the generosity of art award sponsors with proceeds from the event, over $40,000 in monetary and in-kind donations were awarded to support student artists, the art teachers and high school art departments.

Masterpiece Sponsors included Bank of America, W.G. Mills, Inc., Advanced Network & Services – Allan & Sandy Weis, and Herald-Tribune Media Group. Connoisseur Sponsors were Fawley Bryant Architects, Inc., Harvard Jolly Architecture, Jon F. Swift, Inc., Tandem Construction, and Willis A. Smith Construction, Inc.

Virtuoso Sponsors included Comcast, Jeff and Cindy Kaiser, Norton, Hammersley, Lopez & Skokos P.A., Ringling College of Art and Design, Rob Robinson and Lisa Carlton, SchenkelSchultz Architecture, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP, Sutter Roofing, and Willis. Artiste Sponsors were Andrick and Associates, Inc., Engineering Matrix, Inc., Florida Power & Light Co., Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, Hill, Barth & King LLC + LaGasse Utilities, Inc., Kraft Construction Company, Inc., Matthews Eastmoore Hardy Crauwels & Garcia, P.A., McIntyre Elwell & Strammer General Contractors, Robert W. Baird & Company, SunTrust, and Verizon. U.S. Trust sponsored the Evening of Excellence Juried Art Show reception in January.

Student art awards, scholarships and grants included Bank of America’s Best of Show and Best of School awards. The 2010 Best of Show piece was New Orleans III, a haunting digital photograph by Sarasota High School senior Josh Parenti. Parenti had two winning photographs represented in the auction.


Mariah Marshall, Omar Y. Cooper Artistic Achievement Award Winner
 
The $2,000 Omar Y. Cooper Artistic Achievement Award was presented to North Port High School junior Mariah Marshall, who also receives a year-long mentorship with an arts professional. The Mary Mills Damon Art Awards and W.G. Mills Student Art Awards were sponsored by W.G. Mills, Inc., who also presented grants to each participating art department. Gerald S. Kaplan sponsored the Nancy Kaplan Art for Today Award in honor of his wife, an artist. The Caroline and Michael Zucker Free Spirit Art Award encourages a young artist to explore new horizons in his or her imagination. The proprietors of Main Street Oyster Bar, a downtown Sarasota restaurant, support artistry and passion through their sponsorship of at least one art award each year. Other student art awards included the Evelyn Bryant Sculpture Award, Helen C. Martin Imagine Forever Award and awards from The Burd Family, Caldwell Trust Company, Lisa Carlton and Rob Robinson, Randy and Karen Crete, Freeman Orthodontics, Friends of the Foundation, Meg Mahoney, and Susan and Philip Morris.

The student artists donate their winning art works, which are then elaborately framed by local galleries that donate their time, materials, and talent. Participating framers include Art & Frame of Sarasota, Collectors Gallery & Framery, The Collectors Wall Fine Art Gallery, Final Touch Frame and Gallery, Frame It Up…, The Galleries at Northgate, Gulf Breeze Framing, Gulf Gate Frame Center, Jessica’s Picture Framing, Karchelle’s Custom Framing and Art Gallery, Kennedy Studios Graphics & Framing, Uptown Framers/Framer of the Arts, and William Hartman Galleries.

The Evening of Excellence volunteer committee headed by Meg Mahoney includes Mina Ajrab, Lisa Beckstein, Cathi Bell, Sherry Burd, Kelly Collins, Christine Cremer, Jackie Cutrone, Tracy Frascone, Chellie Gardiner, Melba Jimenez, Mollie Johnson, Iris Kleiber, Alina Klein, Helen Martin, Cecelia Mills, Alix Morin, Hartley O'Brien, Melissa O'Buch, Janice Piedra, Yen Reed, Dotti Sechrist, Stephanie Shaw, Renee Sleight, Janey Swift, Taylor Tollerton, Anita Zimmerman, and Caroline Zucker. Christine A. Brown is the program director.