VHS's Dawson honored at UF commencement

GAINESVILLE. Fla. --- A school leader who transformed a “D” school into one of the nation’s top-ranked high schools, Vernon High Principal Dr. Bobbie dawson, was among the educators being honored by the University of Florida during this semester’s commencement ceremonies, according to a news release from the University of Florida.

The UF College of Education presented five Florida educators with the Distinguished Educator Awards, which were created in 1988 to honor the important role teachers and school administrators play in shaping the lives of Florida’s children. While the Sunshine State is home to thousands of teachers who deserve to be honored, the Distinguished Educator Award is granted only to a select few who are identified by their peers as exceptional educators.

Recipients of the awards were honored at a banquet May 3 at the J. Wayne Reitz Student Union, and the awards will be presented at the college’s baccalaureate commencement at 6 p.m. May 3 in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

Dawson has helped put Vernon on the map by transforming its high school into to a high-performing institution. Vernon High was listed U.S. News and World Reports “America’s Best High Schools” issue – a significant change from the D rating the school got on the FCAT just two years earlier. As principal of Vernon Elementary school, she brought that school’s rating from a C to an A.

Dawson has been named Vernon High School Teacher of the Year, has been listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Teachers, won a USAA National Collegiate Education Award and was a finalist for the Florida African American Education Alliance Award.

Each fall and spring term, a county from each of the five educational regions of the state is identified and asked to select a distinguished building-level educator representative of all of the outstanding educators in the county. The chosen educators are invited to take part in University of Florida commencement ceremonies as members of the platform assembly in full academic regalia. Each educator is recognized by the president of the university and presented the Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Florida.