{"id":2875,"date":"2026-05-18T15:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/?p=2875"},"modified":"2026-05-26T18:35:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:35:55","slug":"elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/","title":{"rendered":"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.0″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]
The Educational Leadership and Policy (EL&P) program is pleased to recognize this year\u2019s<\/span>
Graduate Student Excellence Award recipients. These awards highlight students whose<\/span> <\/span>academic<\/span>
performance, professional dispositions, and applied leadership<\/span><\/span> <\/span>demonstrate<\/span><\/span> <\/span>exceptional promise<\/span>
and impact<\/span>. This year\u2019s awardees include two master\u2019s students and two doctoral students.<\/span>
Below, we introduce this year\u2019s recipients and share brief profiles highlighting their academic<\/span>
interests and accomplishments:<\/span>
\uf0b7<\/span> <\/span>Yanique<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Thompson<\/span><\/span> <\/span>is a s<\/span>e<\/span>cond-y<\/span>e<\/span>ar Ph.D. stud<\/span>e<\/span>nt from Jamaica<\/span><\/span> <\/span>in th<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>E<\/span>ducational<\/span>
L<\/span>e<\/span>ad<\/span>e<\/span>rship and Policy program. Sh<\/span>e<\/span> <\/span>curr<\/span>e<\/span>ntly s<\/span>e<\/span>rv<\/span>e<\/span>s as a Graduat<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>E<\/span>ditorial Assistant<\/span>
with the Lastinger Center for Learning. She is also a m<\/span>e<\/span>mb<\/span>e<\/span>r of th<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Akwaaba Fr<\/span>ee<\/span>dom<\/span>
School l<\/span>e<\/span>ad<\/span>e<\/span>rship t<\/span>e<\/span>am, wh<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>sh<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>s<\/span>e<\/span>rv<\/span>e<\/span>s as a Sit<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Coordinator.<\/span><\/span> <\/span>H<\/span>e<\/span>r r<\/span>e<\/span>s<\/span>e<\/span>arch int<\/span>e<\/span>r<\/span>e<\/span>sts<\/span>
focus on t<\/span>e<\/span>ach<\/span>e<\/span>r motivation and auth<\/span>e<\/span>nticity in high-complianc<\/span>e<\/span><\/span> <\/span>syst<\/span>e<\/span>ms.<\/span>
\uf0b7<\/span> <\/span>Jasmine<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Pagano<\/span><\/span> <\/span>is a third-year student in the online Ed.D. program. She currently works<\/span>
as the Supervisor of Wellness Programs for David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral<\/span>
Health, and as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Health Sciences at Florida Gulf<\/span>
Coast University. Her research interests focus on mental health and suicide prevention in<\/span>
K-12 schools.<\/span>
\uf0b7<\/span> <\/span>Emma<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Bartleman<\/span><\/span> <\/span>is a spring 2026 graduate of the online M.Ed. Program. She currently<\/span>
works as a second-grade teacher in Broward County Public Schools.<\/span><\/span>
\uf0b7<\/span> <\/span>Lakeshia<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Rayburn<\/span><\/span> <\/span>is a third-year student in the M.Ed. program. She currently serves as a<\/span>
fifth-grade teacher and grade chair in the Putnam County School District.<\/span>
Awardees were selected by EL&P faculty based on demonstrated excellence in contributions to<\/span>
the learning community, strategic and policy<\/span>–<\/span>informed thinking, evidence<\/span>–<\/span>based professional<\/span>
learning, and a strong professional leadership disposition.<\/span><\/div>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-news"],"yoast_head":"\nEL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees - Educational Leadership and Policy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Educational Leadership and Policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-18T15:14:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T18:35:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/files\/2024\/05\/IMG_9459-1024x575.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"evekung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"evekung\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/\",\"name\":\"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees - Educational Leadership and Policy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-18T15:14:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-26T18:35:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5bc7fcb1ba88dfb70388bac7a463ca\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Educational Leadership and Policy\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/\",\"name\":\"Educational Leadership and Policy\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5bc7fcb1ba88dfb70388bac7a463ca\",\"name\":\"evekung\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92828e84f68a4ba3183231e45520c40e23f0a642378f394c14fc16f8fd6b30b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92828e84f68a4ba3183231e45520c40e23f0a642378f394c14fc16f8fd6b30b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"evekung\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/author\/evejung\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees - Educational Leadership and Policy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees","og_url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/","og_site_name":"Educational Leadership and Policy","article_published_time":"2026-05-18T15:14:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-26T18:35:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/files\/2024\/05\/IMG_9459-1024x575.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"evekung","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"evekung","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/","name":"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees - Educational Leadership and Policy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-05-18T15:14:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-26T18:35:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5bc7fcb1ba88dfb70388bac7a463ca"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/2026\/05\/18\/elp-program-announces-graduate-student-excellence-awardees\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Educational Leadership and Policy","item":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EL&P Program Announces Graduate Student Excellence Awardees"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#website","url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/","name":"Educational Leadership and Policy","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5bc7fcb1ba88dfb70388bac7a463ca","name":"evekung","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92828e84f68a4ba3183231e45520c40e23f0a642378f394c14fc16f8fd6b30b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92828e84f68a4ba3183231e45520c40e23f0a642378f394c14fc16f8fd6b30b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"evekung"},"url":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/author\/evejung\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2875"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2879,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2875\/revisions\/2879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/education.ufl.edu\/educational-leadership\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}