February has been declared Florida School Volunteer Month. School districts around the state recognize volunteers for their outstanding support of and contributions to the education of Florida’s students with the Outstanding School Volunteer Award.
This award, administered by the district's Community and Family Engagement Office, is presented in three categories: youth, adult and senior. Volunteers receiving the award have made the quality of education better for DCPS’ students, and were selected based on the number of service hours, years of service, and unique type of contribution and/or characteristic of services rendered.
DCPS’ 2010-2011 Outstanding School Volunteer Awards were presented to Dejan Antunovic, Youth Volunteer of the Year; Sharon Hodges, Adult Volunteer of the Year; and Nina Beale, Senior Volunteer of the Year.
About the Winners
Dejan “Dan” Antunovic, now a ninth-grader at Stanton College Preparatory School, volunteered approximately 30 hours per week for two years while he was attending James Weldon Johnson Middle. Dan spent the summer of 2010 as a receptionist at the school, answering phones, assisting visitors who came to the school with questions and tours, and helping staff as they prepared for the new school year. Dan was also a key volunteer during James Weldon Johnson’s “new student boot camp,” and spent a lot of time with the incoming sixth-graders as they navigated their way in a new school. Dan has been an invaluable volunteer at James Weldon, and the students and staff are very grateful to have had Dan’s service and dedication to their school.
For more than 13 years, Sharon Hodges has provided thousands of hours of service to Biscayne Elementary. She serves as the district’s first Title I Parent Advisory Council Chair, Vice President of Membership for Biscayne’s PTA, and keeps Biscayne’s wonderful stories and events in the news as the school’s Good News Ambassador. Mrs. Hodges is said to be “leading the way to empower parents to get involved with their children’s education,” as she frequently recruits parents to volunteer at school programs and events, conducts PTA membership drives at the school, and hosts a parent/student orientation entitled “Parent Power Equals Student Success.” Those who see her in action say, “Mrs. Hodges exemplifies the true meaning of an outstanding volunteer. Her dedication and commitment impacts the lives of our students, parents, schools and community.”
Dedication and commitment also describe our Senior Volunteer of the Year, Nina Beale. For more than 16 years, Ms. Beale has been volunteering five days a week for 5 ½ hours per day at Crown Point Elementary. This is more than 16,000 hours of service hours to the school! Ms. Beale has only missed a few days of “work” – once for a surgery and once because she was sick.
Throughout the day, she spends time assisting in the media center, organizes the drawings for the school’s monthly Good Manners Luncheon, and is known as the school’s “laminating queen,” taking great pride in getting items laminated for teachers with no more than a one-day turnaround. She is also the school’s PTA representation and presents a spiritual meditation thought at all of the PTA board meetings. Students and staff love their ‘Ms. Nina,’ and are so thankful for her service to their school. Her caring attitude and capable hands provide Crown Point Elementary with a wonderful assistant every day of the school year.
On behalf of the entire district, I congratulate these wonderful volunteers for receiving these awards. All of our volunteers and mentors play a very important part in our educational system, and we salute the more than 22,910 volunteers who partner with us in meeting our mission of ensuring that all DCPS’ students are provided high quality educational opportunities. Between August 2009 and June 2010, these volunteers provided 510,119 hours of service to our schools.
Each year, we are faced with additional cuts to our budget. Now more than ever, we need community and business members to step up and volunteer. Be it an individual, a civic group or an organization - no effort is considered too small. DCPS has many volunteer opportunities available, and we encourage you to learn how you can make a difference by volunteering. For more information, visit our
website or call the Community and Family Engagement Office at 904-390-2960.
Thank you for your continued support of Duval County Public Schools.
