FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 4, 2018
GTM Research Reserve Receives
Outstanding Business Partner of the Year Award
~The award is given to community partners providing outstanding service~
GTM Environmental Educators Emma Hanson,
Josie Spearman and Gabby Canas accepted the award.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - The Guana Tolomato Matanzas Research Reserve (GTM) received the 2018 Outstanding Business
Partner of the Year Award from the St. Johns County Career Academies. The
award is given annually to community partners supporting one or more career academies for a number of years on a consistent
level.
“We are honored to receive this award for the second time
from our community partners," said Dr. Michael Shirley, director of the GTM
Research Reserve. “Our environmental education team has been working with this
organization for over
six years now.”
The reserve also received the award for 2011-12. The GTM education staff works with the
Environmental Science strand of the Academy of Engineering and Environmental
Science at Creekside High School, conducting vegetation site assessments in
the uplands forest. Additionally, students in the Academy of
Coastal and Water Resources at St. Johns Technical High School helped
build the reserve’s paved sensory trail. After Hurricane Irma, GTM
worked with both schools during a marine debris cleanup. Each year, the reserve’s education team mentors new career
academies recruits.
The St. Johns County Career Academies
depend on the business community to support education programs for local students. In 2017-18, there were 120 business partners working with the 19 career academy programs.
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