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Achievers

By Times Staff Writer
Published December 14, 2005

Two local students have been named semifinalists in the 2005-2006 Coca-Cola Scholars program. Jasmine Steele from Indian Rocks Christian School and Jhanavi Pathak from St. Petersburg High School are among 2,000 seniors who may be eligible for a total of $1.8-million in college scholarships. Steele and Pathak were chosen based on criteria including academic excellence, leadership and achievement in school and community activities.

A committee of 30 educators from high schools and colleges across the United States will choose 250 finalists in February. Finalists will be invited to attend a scholars weekend in Atlanta, April 6-9, where they will participate in a final interview process that may qualify them as a national or regional scholar. Fifty national scholars will each receive a $20,000 scholarship, and regional Scholars will each receive a $4,000 scholarship.

Corey J. Peloquin, a seventh-grade science teacher at Madeira Beach Middle School, has been named a Disney Teacher Award nominee, which puts him in contention for the 2006 Disney Teacher of the Year. For consideration, Peloquin will submit letters of recommendation and an application with essays on topics such as his classroom and teaching approaches and an event that helped shape him as an educator.

The Disney Teacher Awards recognize full-time teachers whose approaches exemplify creativity in teaching and who inspire a joy of learning in their students. Any K-12 public school teacher is eligible to be nominated. Nominees who complete the application are then eligible for selection as a DisneyHand Teacher Awards Honoree. Honorees will be celebrated at an awards gala in July 2006, where four honorees will be named Outstanding Teachers and one will be named the 2006 Disney Teacher of the Year. The honorees each receive $10,000; $5,000 for their schools; and a six-day professional development institute, with their principals, at Disney World. At the institute, teachers share ideas to refine their innovative teaching approaches and learn how to engage other teachers to build an effective collaborative teaching culture at their schools.

Twenty-five bus drivers have been named Multiple Year Safe Drivers for 2004-2005 by the Pinellas County School District. The award winners were recognized at the Nov. 8 School Board meeting. The award is designed to recognize drivers who, for 10 or more consecutive years, have had no citations during the year, have maintained their license in good standing, have had no preventable accidents and have not missed more than 30 days in any school year. Honorees, along with the compound they are assigned to and the number of years of service, are:

- 49th Street compound: Samuel Algarin, 19 years; Milton Fleming, 32 years; Willie Godwin, 22 years; and Rosa Smith, 22 years.

- Clearwater compound: Iris Mitchell, 16 years; Wanda Prosser, 13 years; and Robert Wilson, 14 years.

- Highpoint compound: Ernest Covault, 10 years.

- Lealman compound: Linden Brown, 12 years; Dorothy Carvis, 18 years; and Deborah Kerns, 11 years.

- Tarpon Springs compound: Gerald Hensen, 11 years; and Deborah Smith, 20 years.

[Last modified December 14, 2005, 00:14:15]