Florida PLT Awards
Project Learning Tree applauds all educators, facilitators, and partners whose efforts make our Florida PLT program successful. Each year we recognize two individuals and one organization at the Florida Forestry Association Annual Meeting. The recipients must meet high standards for helping with workshops or using PLT in the classroom.
Congratulations to our 2008 Florida PLT Award Recipients!
2008 Educator of the Year: Ed Lewis
Ed Lewis, a forester for Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, has been an extraordinary friend to AD Harris High School. For the last ten years, Ed has been nothing but helpful to the faculty and students. He led a tour for students at Gould’s Tree Farm and kept the students laughing while they were learning. He helped students with tree identification for an urban forestry project and used his humor to teach youth tricks on remembering the tree name. He has a remarkable knack of getting ones interest and holding it until he is through making his point. He is always willing to help teachers with their projects, lending his knowledge, expertise, and labor to each project.
2008 Facilitator of the Year: Joan Hourican
A facilitator since pre-2002, Joan has facilitated 15 educator workshops in Palm Beach and Broward Counties reaching 379 educators. Often Joan leads a PLT, WILD, and WET workshop with Science Methods Pre-service Students at Florida Atlantic University. She is willing to offer new materials to teachers such as PLT’s Energy and Society Kits, of which she was one of the first facilitators to offer this workshop. When there is a need for learning, Joan is willing to work with teachers and schools to ensure a workshop can happen.
Past Recipients
| Year | Educator of the Year | Facilitator of the Year |
| 1992 | Marcia Bisnett | Robin Will |
| 1993 | Mike Nelson | Paul Johnson |
| 1994 | Myra Jeffries* | Joe Mackenzie |
| 1995 | Katie Sollohub | Tom Serviss |
| 1996 | Rodney Ivey* | Dave Fogler |
| 1997 | Nancy Johnson | Matt Bonham |
| 1998 | Christine Allen | Glen Harris |
| 1999 | Mary Bahr | Foster Dickard |
| 2000 | Phillip Smith* | Robert Raze |
| 2001 | Lora Lindsey | Marcus Boston and Stan Rosenthal |
| 2002 | Fred Weichmann* | Bill Kleinhans |
| 2003 | Leon Mays* | Cheryl George |
| 2004 | Florie Babcock | Mark Miller |
| 2005 | Amanda Betz and Michelle Hunter* | Marcia Bisnett |
| 2006 | Summer Zephyr | Karen Johson-Folsom |
| 2007 | Karen Weigelt | David Moody |
* Indicates winner of the National PLT Educator of the Year Award
Please visit our Business Partner of the Year page.