Schoolhouse Flock
In our new series titled "Schoolhouse Flock" we highlight local schools and the Ospreys who run them.
Clay High
Located on Highway 16 in Green Cove Springs, Clay High School is the fastest growing high school in Clay County with a population of 1,800 students, 100 teachers and 95 staff members. 成人AV视频 alumna Jen Halter (’10, ’23), a 19-year educator, serves as principal for the school. She said, “成人AV视频 has prepared me to be successful in this current role as Principal of Clay High, as an advocate at the state and national level for educational leaders, and as an aspiring district leader and future superintendent.”
Halter is joined by many other Ospreys, including Ciara Viner-Boots (‘15), Joshua Persinger (‘14), Wale Leyimu (‘08), Cole Cottet (‘23), Dana Brock, Bria Havener (’04, ’06, ‘07), Olivia Sweat, Susan Horn (’98, ‘98), Kimberlee Roberts (‘23), Caleb Milligan (’14, ‘15), William Weeks (’13, ‘15), and Lacey Elrod (‘06).
Molding Clay
Halter started her educator journey at Orange Park Junior High teaching eighth grade students. She also served as the Head Girls Track Coach in addition to starting the Cross-Country program at the junior high level. She also served as sponsor for the Debate Club and Writing Club. After eight years of teaching and coaching, she moved up to assistant principal at Green Cove Springs Junior High, followed soon after by a promotion to vice principal, and finally principal.
She led Green Cove Springs Junior High for six years, and in that time, the school became a Best and Brightest School, a School of Excellence, and increased in school grade every year, all while starting to close achievement gaps in reading and math for Black and Hispanic students. In 2021, Halter received awards for the 2021 Clay County Principal of the Year and the 2021 Florida Principal of the Year.
Later that year, she joined Clay High and is currently in her fourth year as principal. In the last three years, Clay High went from the most underperforming high school in the district with 52% grade of a C to a 65% grade of an A. This past year, Clay High had the highest learning gains and lower quartile learning gains in reading in the history of the school.
Clay High Study Guide
Steeped in a tradition and a huge legacy of leaders and a community of alumni, the Clay High Blue Devils recently earned an A-rating on the state assessments. Clay High has a very high-performing athletics program that boasts many state titles, national placements and famous alumni, including Olympic swimmer Caeleb Dressel, World Series Champions Dane Dunning and Jake Dunning, and former NFL players, Nolan Carroll, Will Holden and Super Bowl Champion Cliff Avril. They also have many alumni serving as local and state leaders.
Clay High offers many pathways and academies, including offerings in criminal justice, veterinarian technology, digital design, VyStar Academy, introduction to teaching, agriculture, auto mechanic, carpentry, 911 dispatch, computer science and health science with CNA and EKG certifications.
Their FFA chapter is currently ranked in the top three finalists in the nation for a Model of Excellence Chapter award and their NJROTC unit just received accolades as a National Distinguished Chapter. With their large veteran alumni base, Halter honored their legacy by creating the Military Hall of Fame in the science wing, which displays seals from each branch of the military and every alumni who has served or will serve.
Educating the Educator
As she pursued her undergraduate studies at Florida State, she realized she wanted to be an educator. Her father taught high school science before becoming an administrator. “I want to provide positive learning experiences for all students,” Halter said. “If everyone can look back fondly on their time in school, I feel that there would be more support from the parents and community.” Her favorite part of the job is celebrating the students and all the wonderful things they’re doing in and out of the classroom. She said, “It brings me the most joy to watch our students come in as freshmen, watch them grow throughout their four years, and graduate with options for life beyond high school.”
While at Orange Park Junior High, her principal encouraged her to get her master’s degree in educational leadership, and the 成人AV视频 College of Education and Human Services recently started a local group that allowed her to learn alongside her peers. She said, “It was convenient and I loved the idea of a cohort of learners from the same district together.”
Not only did she earn her master’s at The Graduate School , but she went on to earn her Doctorate in Educational Leadership, as well. “Both degrees have helped prepare me for success in my career through opening doors to promotions and understanding how to view instructional practice and leadership through the lens of current research,” she said.
Her dissertation is an autoethnography and the first to be published at 成人AV视频, and she wants to thank her doctoral committee for allowing that to happen. Dr. David Hoppey served as an advocate during the doctoral process and remains her mentor. Dr. Meghan Parkinson, Dr. Dan Dinsmore and Dr. Robert Lake, encouraged her to push her thinking. And finally, Dr. Linda Skrla who ushered her cohort into the doctoral journey, Dr. Carolyne Ali-Kahn who continues to guide and encourage her, and Dr. Christian Winterbottom who “was such a delight to have as a professor.”
(Written by Alex Achorn, Published 11/13/2024)
Holy Family Catholic School
The holiday season is best spent with family, so we visited alumnus Michael Kavanagh (’11), principal of Holy Family Catholic School, for this month’s #SchoolhouseFlock.
Rise Up and Shine
“I think being an educator chose me more than I chose to teach,” said Kavanagh. As a child, both of his parents were teachers, and as he grew up, they both became principals as well. His journey began in 2007 in New York City, while as a college student he was serving as a substitute teacher. At one point, he was asked to cover an extended leave for a third-grade teacher, and a two-month assignment turned into a full school year.
From there, he doubled down on his education. He settled down in Florida where friends had raved about their experiences at 成人AV视频. He checked it out and found it to be the right fit for him. He completed his bachelor’s degree in English, got married and moved back up to the Big Apple to teach fourth grade.
Four years and two kids later, he and his wife felt strongly about returning to Florida. In 2016, he started teaching middle school English and Social Studies at Holy Family Catholic School. A few years later, he returned to school to pursue a degree in educational leadership which he completed in 2020. Life moved quickly for him as he was offered the role of assistant principal, and then when his boss left in 2023, he was once again elevated to principal.
Holy Family Study Guide
Holy Family is a Catholic School on Baymeadows Road, just a short drive from 成人AV视频. They enroll students from PK3 through 8th grade, currently serving over 450 students from around 300 families. They believe in providing a rigorous academic program in a caring and loving environment, inspired and guided by their Catholic faith.
Over the past few years, they have developed a strong academic intervention team, which has helped raise math and reading scores for over 85% of their most needy learners. Overall, more than 80% of their students are proficient in Math and more than 90% are proficient in Reading. Recently, they have constructed a brand new, state-of-the-art STEM lab, and have adopted two new tortoises into their family.
In addition to Kavanagh, assistant principal Amanda Robison (’11, ’22), teachers Krystal Berrios (’07), Kimberly Exum (’99), Nichole Walker (’14) and Jessica Tripp (’05), and administrators Sandy Salem (’05), Kelli Fletcher (’90, ’93) and Amy Galloway (’91, ’05) are all Osprey alumni.
Mass Appeal
Kavanagh loves his job because no two days are the same. Because of the smaller size of the school, he can keep up with how the teachers and students are doing in class, even filling in as a substitute when it’s called for. Since he earned his degree in English, he is able to utilize his education to develop skills to teach his students. He said, “I especially benefited from the excellent instruction in composition, rhetoric and creative writing.” He loves sharing his passion with the students to teach them how to be effective communicators and appreciate the power of words.
He also loves being surrounded by Ospreys and the many teachers, administrators and staff members who earned their degrees from 成人AV视频. Plus, many of their extended day workers are current 成人AV视频 students. “I am proud to know that so many Ospreys stayed local and continue to give back to the community as educators,” Kavanagh said.
(Written by Alex Achorn & Natalija Vukadinovic, Published 12/23/2024)
Mandarin High School
Join us for this month’s #SchoolhouseFlock featuring alumna Sara Bravo (’99, ’27), principal of Mandarin High School.
The Age of Exploration
Teaching always seemed to be on the syllabus for Bravo. She grew up in DeLand with a family of educators and remembers playing teacher as little girl, setting up classrooms for her stuffed animals. She attended high school in Daytona Beach where she fell in love with history. Once it was time to choose a college, the only child wanted to be close to her parents but still have her independence. “When we visited [成人AV视频], I felt very much at home,” she said.
After graduation, she secured her first teaching job at Landon Middle School teaching 7th grade Geography. Soon after, she joined the inaugural faculty at LaVilla School of the Arts. She taught there for five years before serving as the school’s instructional coach for three more. During that time, she got married, earned her master’s degree and became a mother of twins. She has the opportunity to move back to Landon to serve as assistant principal under her mentor, and four years later she was promoted to principal, leading the school for the next three years.
In 2015, she was promoted to the principalship at Englewood High School, where she had an incredible five years. She worked with an incredible team to increase the graduation rate from 78% to 91%, opened the Johnson and Johnson Early College Academy and started a Dual Language Program. Then in 2020, she moved to her current position at Mandarin High where she was tasked with improving the school’s ranking, which had recently slipped into the “B” range. Bravo said, “It is truly where my heart belongs, and I’m so grateful to serve the students and community each day.”
The Renaissance
Mandarin High is the third-largest high school in Duval County with 2,400 students and over 100 faculty and staff, of which a third earned their degrees from 成人AV视频. They have a prestigious Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Program with 99% of those students earning their AICE diploma each year. They also have three career academies – medical, culinary and business. They have a 97% graduation rate that’s on the rise and earned the highest number of total points on the state assessments of all non-dedicated magnet high schools, earning back their “A” rating among the Duval County Schools.
The Mustang athletics program is the largest in the county, offering 37 high performing varsity and JV sports. Their Navy JROTC program and stellar theatre, chorus and brand programs, in addition to their courses in visual art, film, debate and creative writing, truly offer their students a well-rounded high school experience. Additionally, Mandarin High will be completing construction on a new wing which features state of the art culinary and medical facilities for their career academies later this year.
While Bravo leads the charge for the Mustangs, she couldn’t do it without her amazing staff full of Ospreys: Michelle Adams-Manning (’19), Conner Andrews (’18), Jacqueline Bensen (’11), Kenneth Edward Dern, Jr. (’22), Sommer Farhat Valent (’25), Valerie Fees (’01), Chelsi Forrester (’18), Natalia Gonzalez (’00), Erin Heinze (’13), Alissa Kester (’08), Hannah Lakatos (’11, ’23), Ashley Mallory (’14), Darryl Markle (’13), Valeria Dawn McConatha (’00), Calvin McFarland, Jr. (’92, ’97), Carmen Nye (’99), Beth Pecarek ('03, '10), Brian Rado ('01), Michael Santana (’12), Brittany Scott , Tanu Seymore (’07), Patrick St. Laurent (’10), Meredith Sullivan (’18), Corey Waxman (’02) and Sara Zeigler (’13).
The Age of Enlightenment
When Bravo first arrived at 成人AV视频, she lived in Osprey Hall, but sort of struggled with the transition to life on her own. Things got even tougher when her father passed away in 1998. But nevertheless, she persevered, completing all her classes to earn her bachelor’s degree in social sciences secondary education. She also engaged in three internships during her final few semesters, working with teachers at Arlington Middle and Sandalwood High before taking on a full semester internship at Landmark Middle that truly allowed her to teach. “In the last month, I had complete autonomy and control within the classroom,” she said. “This allowed me to walk into my first teaching position with tools and strategies I wouldn’t have had otherwise.” She crossed the graduation stage in 1999, and while he wasn’t there in person, she knows her dad was with her in spirit.
In December of 2023, with both of her children graduating from high school, she wanted to find a way to grow without leaving her role at Mandarin, so she applied for the Ed.D. program at 成人AV视频. He father had earned his doctorate in educational leadership from UCF, so for her, “to earn the same degree he earned makes me feel connected to him.” With the support of her husband, she dove headfirst into this new challenge. “I absolutely love my program and my cohort,” she said. “And being back on campus at 成人AV视频 brings me to a reflective and full circle point in my life.”
Her daughter, Maggie, has always been passionate about photography, and landed an internship with Cady Studios for this year. Her son, Ben, followed her Osprey footprints, and is a sophomore on the Dean’s List who currently works at Publix. She considers Mandarin her third child, as there’s not a day that goes by that she’s not excited to get to work. “I know I will be able to apply much of my doctoral work to Mandarin, and much of my work at Mandarin to my 成人AV视频 program,” Bravo said. “I am a very fortunate educator, mom, wife and Osprey!”
(Written by Alex Achorn, Published 1/1/2025)
Seabreeze Elementary
By now, our audience has likely seen us brag about our 成人AV视频 College of Education and Human Services alumni network. With so many talented educators locally, nationally and even globally, it’s hard not to get excited about all their accomplishments. As we focus on our University pillars of leadership and scholarship, we’d like to introduce our new series, #SchoolhouseFlock, where each month we dive into a new school led by Ospreys to give you the inside swoop.
Seabreeze Elementary Study Guide
Seabreeze Elementary is a neighborhood school located in Jacksonville Beach between JTB and Beach Boulevard. Led by alumna Aimee Kimball (MEd ‘11), Seabreeze services 530 students with 30 teachers on staff. Over half of their teachers have earned a degree from 成人AV视频, many of whom go above and beyond by sponsoring additional after-school activities such as Chess Club, Minecraft Club, Girls on the Run and much more. “I believe in both transparent and servant leadership,” Kimball said, “and I strive to be a supportive leader for my teachers and students.”
In addition to their faculty, Seabreeze is also supported by a phenomenal volunteer base through their nonprofit, Friends of Seabreeze. They help provide programming including STEM education, the Morning Mile run club and Kelp Club, focused on gardening and recycling. They even have a “SeaBroz” group that helps positive male role models become more involved with the school.
“Ultimately what I love about this school is how the heart of the community flows through our hallways,” Kimball said. “Everyone pours so much of their time and energy into our school, and we make a committed effort to give back to Jacksonville Beach.”
Any Way the Wind Blows
Originally from the “bootheel” of Missouri, a family of educators raised Kimball. Her mother worked as an art instructor and her father taught criminal justice courses for a high school vocational program, so her rural upbringing instilled in her community-based values and the importance of education. She did her undergraduate studies at Southeast Missouri State University, where she pursued everything from journalism to pharmacology to meteorology. Ultimately, she followed her parents and chose the educational field, which allowed her to utilize her strengths to develop the talents of others.
While she was thankful for where she grew up, she dreamed of being in a location with museums, concerts and sandy beaches. Jacksonville checked all those boxes and Duval County added another great educator to its roster. She taught at Lone Star Elementary in East Arlington for nine years, where she served as the math department lead and data coach. She felt a calling to do similar work at a larger scale, and many of her mentors and colleagues had gone through the 成人AV视频 COEHS educational leadership program.
After earning her master’s degree, she served a couple of years as the assistant principal at Neptune Beach Elementary before transferring to that same position at Seabreeze Elementary. The following year, she was promoted to principal. “The best part of this job is the people I serve – our children and their families,” Kimball said. “Students are funny, naturally inquisitive, and so inclusive and kind. To be able to nurture those qualities while teaching them foundational skills is priceless.
The Education Connection
As she looks back throughout her own education, she credits her 成人AV视频 professors and courses which prepared her for her principalship. Among them were Dr. Warren Hodge, Dr. Sandra Gupton and Dr. Mariane Beaton who covered topics ranging from education law, human resources, finance, research and the adult nature of learning. Kimball said, “There were several shuttle rides to the parking lot where we all sat fully saturated and completely exhausted, but we recognized how much we were learning and growing professionally.”
As mentioned earlier, currently 16 of the Seabreeze Elementary teachers have earned a degree from 成人AV视频: Brooke Axler (’99), Christina Chacon (’17), Carly Coffman (’10), Karen Johnson (’85, ’94), Cassandra Kyne (’04), April McFalls (’06), Tracy Pound (’95), Peter Priscott (’98), Melissa Remley (’04), Tricia Rigdon (’97, ’05), Lynsey (Parris) Ruffell (’13), Taylor Ruffell (’12), Jennifer Shepard (’15, ’22), Kelli (Conley) Tucker (’20), Tabitha Tuggle (’09) and Rachel Young (’06). One more Osprey is on her way as April Bonaventure (’25) approaches her graduation date.
“I believe education is both hard work and heart work—there are long hours, short days, and a lot of love put into these classrooms,” said Kimball. Her advice for anyone interested in pursuing a career in education is to listen to the calling. “You are so desperately needed,” she said. “Our children deserve brilliant, compassionate and ethical individuals to guide them to their future successes.”
(Written by Alex Achorn, Published 10/17/2024)