Meet the latest inductees into the Lake County Alumni Hall of Fame
TAVARES — You could call them hometown heroes, inspirations or just nice folks. Whatever sets them apart, four accomplished individuals who have attended Lake County Schools will become the newest class of Alumni Hall of Fame inductees at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, at the Night of Stars event hosted by the Education Foundation of Lake County.
This year’s inductees are: Dr. Alvin B. Jackson, Eustis High School, Class of 1979; Derrick Manning, Mount Dora High School, Class of 1979; Dr. Patricia Gail Spear, Mount Dora High School, Class of 1960; and Linda Watts, Umatilla High School, Class of 1964.
Dr. Alvin B. Jackson has been a community leader for several decades and currently serves as city manager for the city of Bunnell. An innovative spirit, Jackson recommended and created a new Land Use category — Employment Centers — to accommodate a mixed use of business, industrial, manufacturing, commercial, retail and limited residential properties.
He also secured $3.2 million to construct a wastewater treatment infrastructure at the hottest sites in the region: l-75/CR 136 (White Springs Exit).
When he was director of human services for the city of Eustis, he initiated a day in Tallahassee for the city. It later became Lake County Day in Tallahassee, a time for county leaders to meet with lawmakers to discuss local priorities.
He is also well known for using his organization and mobilization skills to help turn 750 acres of discarded orange groves into the Industrial Park we know of today.
Derrick C. Manning has been called a "results-oriented and visionary instructional leader. The assistant superintendent for Clayton County Schools in Georgia was recognized by the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers’ Association as the High School Principal of the Year during his first year as principal.
Manning received the Gold Improvement Award from “High Schools that Work” during that organization’s 2004 National Conference. Manning led a performance turnaround at North Clayton High School, recording substantial improvements in student attendance, test scores, teacher retention and more. His colleagues praised him "his demonstrated his abilities to close the achievement gap, raise test scores, and bring student achievement up."
An internationally recognized scientist who made key discoveries about how herpes simplex virus (HSV) causes disease, Dr. Patricia Gail Spear became the first woman to chair a department at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.
In 1971, Spear went to The Rockefeller University (New York) as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Gerald Edelman, the 1972 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.
She was also recognized for her scientific contributions to virology throughout her career by election to many prestigious scientific organizations, including the American Academy of Microbiology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
More Lake County Schools news: Meet Mount Dora High ag teacher Cindy Bellamy, Lake County Teacher of the Year
A retired teacher, Linda Watts has been actively involved in youth programs for the past 37 years. She volunteers with the Leesburg Art Festival and is a member of the Leesburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the Leesburg Partnership.
Watts has been involved with the Florida youth programs of Seventeen Magazine, JCPenney and Disney World’s Dreamers and Doers Program. In 1986, she founded and organized Florida’s Hometown U.S.A. Program, Inc., a nonprofit program focused on youth volunteerism.
The program started in her hometown of Leesburg but branched out to include students from all over the state. Currently, she is the director of the Leesburg Scholarship Program, which awards $10,000 to local students each year.
Learn more about the Hall of Fame and past inductees at lake.k12.fl.us/our-district/hall-of-fame. See more Lake County Schools news on the District News page.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Visionaries: 2024 Lake County Alumni Hall of Fame inductees announced
