Florida currently ranks 49th in the United States in education. Public officials and legislators recently met with a host of student leaders from around the state to brainstorm how to bring Florida to a ranking of No. 1.
Eight SFC students, along with advisors, Kenny Holmes and Dr. Angela Long, were invited to participate in the Worst to First Campaign hosted by Lawton Chiles Leadership Corps on Aug. 9 at UCF. Web gallery
Santa Fe’s student leaders attending were: Austin Brinza – SG Vice President, Drew Hart – SG Senate President (in photo with Clinton), Ryan Beilstein – SG Judicial Secretary, Fred Parks – Director of External Affairs, Kevin Lee – Director of Community Outreach, Juliun Kinsey – Director of Sustainability, Precious Roberts – Senator, and Eugene Jones – Director of Technology.
All eight asked relevant and in-depth questions of the panelists and spoke with former President Bill Clinton. In addition, three of the students (Austin Brinza, Ryan Beilstein, and Kevin Lee) were invited to sit on stage with Clinton during his speech. All the students shook hands with Clinton and received accolades from local leaders, including Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan.
As a follow-up to the conference, a select group of our students will be organizing a grassroots approach on campus to improve Florida’s educational ranking.
To learn more about the event, visit:
Lawton Chiles Sizzle Reel video
From the article linked below:
“Speaking to high school and college students attending a leadership conference at the University of Central Florida, former President Bill Clinton urged students to educate themselves, work hard and get involved in the community.
” ‘You can change the future,’ ” he said. ‘But you can’t do it just by talking about it. Leadership today is deciding how to solve problems and then going out and doing that.’ “