JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jill Sullivan says she wanted to teach at Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle school because of its focus on science.
She is now the chair of the science department and is the lead teacher for the coastal sciences magnet program. She has pursued a certification in agriculture education and in doing so, she has established the only middle school Future Farmers of America chapter in Duval County.
She says it is her dream that every child benefit from a public education that will lead them to healthy and productive lives. She says her role as a teacher is to work to develop the whole child and she takes personal responsibility to assure her families that their child's time, potential and talents are not wasted, but enhanced every day.
Teaching is a second career for Sullivan. She worked in the field of dentistry after high school and even though she dropped out her junior year of high school, she went back to school and earned her college degree.
She started teaching at Landmark Middle school 8 years ago and has moved to 2 other local schools before assuming her role now as the seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher at Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle.
Sullivan is a Jacksonville native. She attended Seabreeze Elementary school and Fletcher Middle school. She continued on to a vocation school on the Northside.
Sullivan is one of fove finalists for Teacher of the Year in Duval County. One will be selected tonight during the EDDY Awards at the Times Union Performing Arts Center.
Other finalists:
- Michael Bostic-Jones, from Raines High School
- Suzanne Evans, from Fishweir Elementary School
- Sabrina Hall, from Andrew Jackson High School
- Kifimbo Parnell, from Kirby-Smith Middle School
We have had the privilege to interview all of them this week and last on The Morning Show ahead of the announcment. The event is open to the public to learn more click here.