2008 Gladys Roddenberry Graduate Fellowships for Teaching Excellence

The 2007 Gladys Roddenberry Graduate Fellowships for Teaching Excellence

The winners of the Gladys Roddenberry Graduate Fellowships for Teaching Excellence awards were honored at a reception at the University Center on October 9th. The recipients were awarded $3,500 to help defray the cost of credit or non-credit courses at the University of North Florida. They are: Keonnia Adair-Summers of Terry Parker High School, Apryl Pelkey-Kokocki fo Gregory Drive Elementary, Victoria Felix of Samuel W. Wolfson High School, Rose-Marie Green-Hanson of Hendricks Avenue Elementary, and Shannon Rose-Hamann of Twin Lakes Academy Elementary. Gilchrist Berg, benefactor of the project and President John Delaney attended to congratulate the students. Mr. Gilchrist Berg established the Gladys Roddenberry Fellowship in 1998. The award is named after a teacher Mr. Berg had as a youth who greatly influenced his life.

Keonnia Adair-Summers
Master of Education: Secondary Education
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Otilia Salmon
Keonnia Adair-Summers teaches Spanish at Terry Parker High School. Earlier in life, Mrs. Adair-Summers intentionally avoided a career in teaching. She came from a family of teachers and was determined that she would do something different. She majored in international business and language. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree, she worked in special events and development for a time. When Mrs. Adair-Summers interviewed for a development job with the Duval County Public Schools, they approached her about being a Spanish teacher instead. Much to her surprise, she fell in love with teaching. “It’s different every year because no student is the same. Teaching is like leaving a piece of you with someone else.” After spending five years as an ESOL teacher at Raines High School, she was asked to move to Terry Parker this year. Her educational goals are to complete a master’s degree in secondary education (ESOL track) and then pursue a doctorate in educational leadership. She strives to be a role model and better herself for the sake of her students. Many of them don’t have the money to go to college. She tells them, “I got a scholarship. If you work hard, you can get a scholarship and go to college, too.”

Apryl Pelkey-Kokocki
Master of Education: Elementary Education
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Katrina Hall
Apryl Pelkey-Kokocki is currently teaching kindergarten at Gregory Drive Elementary School on the Westside. Gregory Drive is a Title 1 school and most of the students are on free or reduced lunch. Her students are very diverse in ethnicity, socio-economic status, family background, disabilities and learning styles. Mrs. Pelkey-Kokocki demonstrates her commitment to her students by spending many hours in preparation so that she can give her students the individualized instruction they need. In the coming years, she would like to develop a website for parents and students that would include content from all subject areas, homework assignments, links to FCAT and future lesson plans. She would also like to write children’s literature. Mrs. Pelkey-Kokocki received a B.A.E. in Elementary Education from UNF in 2003 and will complete her ESOL certification (300 hours) by 2010. She would like to begin a doctorate program in education within the next 5-10 years.

 Victoria Felix
Master of Education: Counselor Education
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Carolyn Stone
Victoria Felix has been a freshman and sophomore math teacher at Samuel W. Wolfson for the past five years. In high school, Ms. Felix wanted to be a systems analyst. She began taking college courses in information technology, but realized that she wasn’t happy. She re-evaluated her career options and decided to find out where her heart really was. She remembered that she enjoyed playing school as a child. As a teenager, she always looked for opportunities to tutor children. So, she enrolled in several education classes, hoping that teaching would be a good fit. She enjoyed the classes immediately and decided that teaching “just felt right”. During Ms. Felix’s third year at Wolfson, students began to seek her advice about emotional issues and problems they were having at home. Ms. Felix realized that she needed more training in order to really help these students. She set a goal to pursue a master’s degree in counselor education. As a future school counselor, she hopes to be able to provide individual support so that more students will complete high school and will go on to pursue a college degree.

Rose-Marie L. Green-Hanson
Master of Education: Special Education
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sue Syverud
Rose-Marie Green-Hanson teaches in a K-3 ESE Inclusion classroom at Hendricks Avenue Elementary. She was born in Jamaica and has always wanted to be a teacher, but didn’t have the opportunity until later in life. Mrs. Green-Hanson came to America when she was 30 years old and worked a variety of low-end jobs to make ends meet. About five years after she arrived in the U. S., she was able to begin school at FCCJ. She continued her education and earned a B.A.E. in Special Education from UNF in 2004. Finally, after many years of hard work, she had achieved her dream. She was a teacher! In her current teaching position, Mrs. Green-Hanson focuses on reading. The more she works with children, the more she wants to learn how to teach troubled children to read. Receiving the Roddenberry Fellowship has given Mrs. Green-Hanson the renewed hope that one day she will earn her master’s degree and become a reading specialist. In the future, she would also like to hone her public speaking abilities and use what she has learned through her personal experiences and studies to empower younger teachers.

Shannon Rose-Hamann
Master of Education: Educational Leadership
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathe Kasten
Shannon Rose-Hamann is a 5th grade teacher at Twin Lakes Academy Elementary. Her area of concentration is reading, writing, spelling, etc. She recently earned the English Language Learner endorsement by completing more than 300 credit hours of coursework. In 2007-08 her peers at Twin Lakes Academy selected her to be their Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Rose-Hamann became a teacher because she has always loved children. As a child, she looked forward to school every day and enjoyed and respected her teachers. Her former principal at Twin Lakes has been an outstanding role model. After working for principal Debbie Menard, Mrs. Rose-Hamann has come to realize how fabulous it would be to work with many teachers. She has always enjoyed being “in charge”. Ultimately, Mrs. Rose-Hamann would like to become an elementary school principal. She is very grateful for the Roddenberry Fellowship and says that, even though she has been saving for years, she wouldn’t be able to pursue her master’s degree without the help the fellowship provides. “Being a teacher is the best job in the world. It doesn’t even feel like work. You are doing what you enjoy and are surrounded by people you love.”