31 UF minority scholarship students attend FFMT annual conference
Posted April 15, 2010
Thirty-one UF College of Education recipients of the Minority Teacher Education Scholarship, offered through the state's Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, Inc., attended FFMT's 14th annual Recruitment and Retention Conference in March in Orlando.
UF’s student contingent interacted with more than 600 other scholarship recipients enrolled in 36 state-approved teacher education programs, along with some 100 community college students considering education as a profession. The conference provided professional development activities for attendees and helps to recruit high-quality minority students into the education field. This year’s conference theme was “Back to Basics: Innovation, Imagination and Dedication.”
The conference included workshops and presentations led by education professionals throughout Florida, UF graduate students in education (Jyrece McClendon, Felecia Moss, Diedre Houchen and Kutura Watson), district recruiters, and college and university faculty.
The Florida Legislature created FFMT in 1996 to boost the number of minority teachers in Florida’s public schools. The statewide program is housed in the UF College of Education’s Office for Recruitment, Retention and Multicultural Affairs. Dean Catherine Emihovich is chairman of the board, Michael Bowie is executive director and Cheryl Williams is program director.
The FFMT program awards performance-based, $4,000 scholarships annually to newly admitted African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian-American/Pacific Islander and Native American/Alaskan Eskimo students at any of the state’s 36 participating institutions. Upon graduation, scholarship recipients are required to teach in a Florida public school for the number of years they received the scholarship or pay back their scholarship awards.
Here is a list of UF’s 2009-10 FFMT scholarship recipients:
Jorge Balmori, Carli Brewer, Ashley Cannington, Brittny Capron, Amy Chow, Anna Regina Claudio, Neil Cole, Maureen Cuff, Shelby Dixon, Altina Fenelon;
Stephanie Gomez, Qiana Green, Andre Gutierrez, Lorin Hedgspeth, Michelle Isgut, Jocelyn Jackson, Karine Ladouceur, Latarra Larkin, Loren Lopez, Betsy Mendez;
Marissa Miranda, Chan Oh, Daniela Otero, Elizabeth Raasch, Yaeliz Rabassa, Mayra Sasso, Indira Suriel, Donna Valdespino, Ashley Vangates, Kelvin Williams and Natasha Williams.
