- April 26, 2024
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Kathleen Learn and Georgia Howard have a love for serving in the education system. Because of their volunteering efforts in two Port Orange schools, both women received the Outstanding School Volunteer Award by Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart.
Learn, a Cypress Creek Elementary School volunteer, and Howard, a Silver Sands Middle School volunteer, were among 15 people who received the award and only two of three people who received it in Central Florida, Region 3.
The annual award is presented to students and adults who donate their time in Florida’s K-12 public education system.
Kathleen Learn
Learn's volunteer work started as a high schooler when she would help out at a food pantry run by the local church.
When Learn's daughter started school, Learn decided to start spending several hours of her week at the school helping out any way she could. Now, Learn has two daughters who both attend Cypress Creek Elementary School. With her two daughters at the same school, Learn was soon volunteering at Cypress Creek.
"Mrs. Learn has been an asset to the Cypress Creek family and her recognition at the school, district and state level is well-deserved," Adrian Bronson, Cypress Creek Elementary principal, said. "Her dedication and willingness to give her time to our students and teachers is extremely appreciated and helps to make Cypress Creek Elementary a better place."
Learn has spent about six years as a school volunteer.
As for where she volunteers, it is wherever she is needed the most, which means she could be filing paperwork one day, grading papers the next or working with students the following week. However, her favorite place is in the classroom where she can directly help students, as well as teachers.
"I just feel that teachers have such a huge responsibility and they can use as much help as they can get because they have so many kids come in their classrooms at so may levels," Learn said. "They have such a difficult job reaching all those children and the more help they can get the better."
The time Learn spends at the school has varied from year to year. Last year she was spending about three days a week at Cypress Creek.
But Learn hasn't forgotten her early days as a volunteer either. She has continued to serve at a food pantry, this time the one run by the outreach ministry at her church, Our Lady of Hope, where she has volunteered for about three years.
As for the future? Learn has plans to continue volunteering, even after retirement.
Georgia Howard
Growing up, Georgia Howard excelled academically. However, for eight years, she was in the same class as a boy who struggled with his grades. Howard never saw a teacher make the extra time to help him.
The image of that young boy with no one to help him left such an impression on Howard that when she graduated, she decided to become a teacher so she could help students who were also struggling academically.
Howard was a teacher, specializing in reading, for more than 30 years. Once she retired at the age of 66, she decided to continue helping middle and high school students in their education.
Now, at 77 years old, Howard still works with students who are struggling with reading. Last year she spent her time volunteering at Silver Sands Middle where she worked with Instructional Coach Celeste Johnson to help students improve their reading abilities.
Howard said one of her favorite parts about volunteering at schools is seeing the smile on students' faces when their reading starts improving.
"Mrs. Howard is such an inspiration to everyone she encounters, students and adults alike," Amanda Wiles, Silver Sands Middle School principal, said. "She shows such passion for learning that it is almost contagious, it is no wonder her tutoring program had such a positive effect on our students. I am just so proud that she is being honored with this distinction. She truly deserves the recognition."
Howard noted that she wants to volunteer as long as she can and has no plans to quit. However, she recently had to switch her volunteer time from Silver Sands to DeLand Middle school, which is closer to where she lives. Howard's car has more than 200,000 miles and she said she couldn't afford to buy a new car to make the longer trip to Port Orange.
Still, she is continuing to work with a new group of students by spending her time to help them read.
"For myself, I have no spirit without it, my whole self is teaching," Howard said. "The students I've worked with have made great gains with their reading scores and the teachers have been very happy."
