Meet Sarasota's Teacher of the Year

A Riverview High teacher who directs the school's Aquascience Program has been named Sarasota County's Teacher of the Year for 2013-14.

Marine Sciene teacher Katrin Rudge was named Teacher of the Year at a ceremony Thursday night at the Hyatt Regency. The other two finalists were Amy Mazner of Alta Vista and Middle School Teacher of the Year Rita Zywica of Brookside.

“I’m completely overwhelmed,” said Rudge. “Every day I wake up excited about what I do. There’s lots of working, even during weekends, but the experience is priceless.”

She thanked husband Jeff Rudge, her children, Brian and Rebecca O’Connell, and her parents, Larry and Rotraut Bockstahler, for their support.

Rudge has taught for almost 12 years, all of them with Sarasota County Schools. She taught science in the Environmental Science Academy at Booker High School from 2001-2004 before joining the Riverview faculty.

She is the director of the RHS Aquascience Program and a co-director, with science teacher and planetarium director Jason Mocherman, of the Stars to Starfish Program. The program incorporates marine science and astronomy.

Riverview students help direct 8,000 elementary and middle school students each year through the Aquadome and the school’s planetarium so they can teach students of all ages about environmental sustainability and the importance of all ecosystems to the health of planet Earth.

“We built the Aquascience Program with the support of everyone at Riverview and with partners like Mote Marine Laboratory and the University of Florida,” Rudge noted in her acceptance speech. “They helped us develop this program as a wonderful teaching tool.”

 She also organizes lessons in connection with Riverview’s learning dock and research vessel, made possible by funds donated in the 2011-12 school year. The 500-square-foot dock and the 22-foot pontoon boat are used by students in a wide range of courses, including Advanced Placement Environmental Science, Marine Science, Aquaculture, Biology, and Environmental Systems and Societies. Students will study water quality and marine organisms as they apply scientific methods to understand local creeks and bays.

Rudge earned a Master of Science degree from the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Program at the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences/Marine Biology from the University of Maryland. She received the Excellence in Science Education Award from the Education Foundation of Sarasota County in 2005.

Riverview Principal Linda Nook said, “Katrin’s classroom is a hub for exploration and creativity. She challenges students to problem-solve and truly think and work like marine scientists.”

The Sarasota County Teacher of the Year program is made possible by the funding and support of community partners. Premier Sponsors include Nova Southeastern University, Publix Super Markets Charities, and Sunset Chevrolet Buick GMC. Gold Sponsors are McDonald’s of Sarasota, the Notre Dame Club of Greater Sarasota, Prudential Retirement, Sarasota County School-Based Administrators Association (SBA), Sarasota County School District Administrators (SDA) and VALIC. Herff Jones-Steve Kline are Silver Sponsors.

The overall Teacher of the Year receives a $1,000 cash award, and the other two finalists receive awards of $500 each from the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. Each of the other 38 individual schools’ Teachers of the Year receive a $150 Education Foundation Teacher Grant for use in their classrooms.

All three finalists receive scholarships from Nova Southeastern University. The overall Teacher of the Year will attend the October 2013 Excellence in Teaching Conference at the University of Notre Dame, all expenses paid, courtesy of the Notre Dame Club of Greater Sarasota.

The individual selected as the district’s top Teacher of the Year also receives a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze to use for a year from Sunset Chevrolet Buick GMC. All 41 teachers nominated this year receive a brass school bell inscribed with their name and a quality professional portrait by Prestige Portraits by Lifetouch.

The district Teacher of the Year will represent the Sarasota County School District at the Florida Department of Education-Macy's Teacher of the Year program and will serve as a spokesperson for and representative of the teaching profession at various events throughout the 2013-14 school year.