VIN'S PEOPLE: Four salutes for Manatee County’s Educator of the Year finalists
Much respect to the finalists for Manatee County’s Educator of the Year and Support Employee of the Year all vying for the 2024 Excellence in Education Awards.
Winners will be announced Feb. 8, 7 p.m. at Manatee High.
Educator of the Year finalists are Katie Bagley, a Prine Elementary third-grade teacher; Joadie Durfee, a Barbara Harvey Elementary fifth-grade teacher; Debra McCarthy, a Lakewood Ranch High language arts teacher and Jessica Spence, a McNeal Elementary first-grade teacher.
Support Employee of the Year finalists are Denise Costello, a Sea Breeze Elementary paraprofessional; Jennifer Harper, a Williams Elementary VPK child development associate; Patrice Cairo, a Witt Elementary computer lab manager and Patricia Pearson, Braden River Middle clerical assistant-attendance clerk.
The educator representative will advance to the Florida Teacher of the Year program and the support representative will advance to the Florida School-Related Employee of the Year program.
Superintendent Jason Wysong will join School Board members Mary Foreman, Gina Messenger and Richard Tatem, School District leaders, and Manatee Education Foundation representatives at the event.
· Say it ain’t so! Angela Babroski is one year shy of the Big 4-0!
· And retired ballerina Muriel Mayars is 95 years young!
· Big ups to the Nolan Middle School girls and boys soccer teams, both County Champions.
The Colts’ girls are Anna Casagrande, Charlotte Chase, Sariyah Cherenfant, Sullivan Clark, Reagan DiLascia, Sofiya Garasic, Samantha Gee, Charlotte Haverstick, McKayla Kvapil, Mia McLauchlan, Jill McManis, Brooklyn Neuweiler, Savannah Paret, Maya Petricca, Avery Stewart, Emery Stewart, Arya Tanrisever and Anna Zabel.
The Colts’ boys are Thiago Bravo, Ezequiel Cruz-Aquino, Jackson Eastburn, Jefferey Davis, Gael Ferrer, Easton Fulmer, Preston Fulmer, JT Halopoff, Sacha Locke, Matthew Majewski, Eitan Neeman, Bryce Newman, Max Olievskiy, Gavin Petricca, Grayden Pies, Alex Pillay, Magnus Tilton and Henley Vansant.
Both teams are co-coached by Joan and Michael Ortiz.
· And Parrish Community High’s Maddison Siasto will swim for the Columbia College Koalas in Columbia, South Carolina.
· Well done to Paul Panik, Manatee County Environmental Program Manager, the county’s Employee of the Year for 2023.
· Manny Ameres is 78 years young.
· And Maria Eurice is 71 years young.
· That wily ol’ stork arrived for Blake and Megan Keller, who named their first bundle of love Barrett “Bear” Edward.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. X (formerly Twitter): @vinmannix.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN MANNIX: A salute to Manatee County’s Educator of the Year finalists
