GAINESVILLE, Fla. Three veteran teachers with combined experience in education of nearly 60 years have been selected as finalists in the Alachua County Teacher of the Year program. One of them will go on to represent Alachua County Public Schools in the Florida Teacher of the Year program.

Lilliemarie Gore, the elementary school finalist, has been the behavior resource teacher at Sidney Lanier School for nearly two years. Before joining the Lanier faculty, she taught at the Duval Fine Arts Academy and at Williams, Idylwild and Wiles elementary schools. During her career she’s also been a safety patrol sponsor, school advisory council member and a coordinator for the 21^st Century after-school program. She was actually selected as the districtwide Teacher of the Year in 2018.

Gore says she enjoys being able to devote individual attention to students who are struggling and then seeing positive changes in them.

“I want to encourage them, inspire them, and set a good example for them,” she said. “I want them to know that they are amazing, that they can do anything and that they should never give up.”

Middle school finalist Richard Thomas is the dean at Kanapaha Middle School. Before taking on that role, he worked as a 6^th grade math and science teacher at the school and as a teacher at Alachua Elementary. He’s also supported his students and schools as a team leader, robotics coordinator, site tech, safety patrol sponsor and a summer Extended Day Enrichment Program instructor.

Thomas is committed to helping students make progress and letting them know that there are people who support them and believe in them even when they make mistakes.

“I want them know that it’s OK to make mistakes. We all do,” he said. “But we learn from them, we grow from them and they help us to be the best we can be.”

Karen Kearney, this year’s high school finalist, teaches at Buchholz High School, the school from which she graduated. In her 21 years at the school she’s taught anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry and physical science. She’s also participated in a wide variety of additional activities, including as a PTSA member, wellness coordinator, teacher mentor, department chair, assistant wrestling coach and sponsor for several school clubs.

Kearney says she wants her students to become engaged learners for the rest of their lives.

“It sounds like a cliché, but that light bulb moment is wonderful,” she said. “I tell them all the time that hearing ‘Ah, I get this!’ is everything to me. That’s why I teach, it’s music to my ears.”

The three finalists and 36 other nominees from Alachua County Public Schools will be honored at the upcoming Robert W. Hughes Teacher of the Year ceremony, which is named after the former Superintendent of Schools who established the program. The event is organized by The Education Foundation for Alachua County Public Schools, and the presenting sponsors include Cox, Florida Credit Union and SWI Photographers.

Each honoree will receive a $500 cash award and other gifts donated by businesses and individuals in the community.

About 500 people typically attend the event. The name of the overall Teacher of the Year and the district’s representative in the state recognition program will be announced near the end.

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ALACHUA ‒ For 19 years the Bits and Spurs Horse Club of Alachua County has held an annual fundraiser horse ride to continue the community remembrance of Dallas Osborne while helping a passionate 4-H member achieve their goals with a $500 scholarship. The fundraiser was sidelined during the COVID pandemic, but last year thanks to Addison Grosz, the event was back in action. Grosz, a current senior at Eastside High School, president of the club and the 4-H “Horseman of the Year” for the State of Florida, was instrumental in restarting the annual trail ride fundraiser. So successful was the last ride that it raised enough money for three scholarships. This year Grosz hopes to repeat that success.

4H is a nationwide organization that provides hands-on learning, to kids 8-18 to build confidence, creativity and curiosity as well as life skills such as leadership and resiliency to help them thrive today and tomorrow. Although mainly geared toward agriculture, the organization also has programs in science, healthy living and civic engagement—and provides these programs to over six million kids nationwide through a network of 100 public university sponsors and a community of 4H volunteers and professionals.

In 4H programs, kids and teens complete hands-on projects where they receive guidance from adult mentors and are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles. 4H exist in every county in the country through in-school and after-school programs, school and community clubs and 4H camps.

A popular 4H program locally is the Bits and Spurs program that teaches horsemanship. One of the members of this program was high school student Dallas Osborne who was known for his dedication in teaching younger students and his leadership in the program.

Over 20 years ago, Osborne was tragically killed in a car accident, but his memory lives on through a scholarship program awarded to a graduating 4H high school student who is a member of the horse club and who exemplifies the traits Dallas shared. Each student applying for the scholarship is required to write an essay, with the winning student can use the scholarship for whatever post high school education they choose.

In a matter of weeks, this year the ride will happen on Feb. 4, 2023, and is open to any rider who wants to participate and help raise funds for the scholarships. Check in is slated for 9:30 a.m. at the North San Felasco Trail Head located at 13201 Progress Blvd., Alachua, FL 32615.

The first ride will start at 10 a.m. with additional rides later depending on the number of participants. Early Bird Registration for 4-H Youth Riders is $20 if signing up before Jan. 15. Regular / Day-Of registration fee is $30. Both fees cover admission, a t-shirt, raffle ticket and lunch at 12:30 p.m.

More information is available on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/bitsandspurs4H/ or by calling 352-574-3215.Advanced tickets can be purchased at Evenbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2023-dallas-osborne-trail-ride-tickets-405324936797.

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• A 2021 study showed that breast milk of lactating mothers vaccinated against COVID-19 contained a significant supply of antibodies that may help protect nursing infants from the illness.
• A new follow-up study found these antibodies in the stool of infants who consumed the breast milk of vaccinated mothers.
• These findings are another piece of evidence suggesting that the breast milk of those vaccinated against COVID-19 may help protect babies from the illness.

GAINESVILLE, Fla., J an. 12, 2023 ‒ A new study from the University of Florida provides more evidence that the breast milk of people vaccinated against COVID-19 provides protection to infants too young to receive the vaccine.

This latest study follows up on findings published in 2021 showing that the breast milk of vaccinated people contained antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The new study, published in the Journal of Perinatology, analyzed the stool of infants that consumed this breast milk and found SARS-CoV-2 antibodies there as well.

“Our first study showed there were SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the breast milk, but we couldn’t say if those antibodies were getting through the babies’ gastrointestinal tract and possibly providing protection there,” said Joseph Larkin III, senior author of the study and an associate professor in the UF/IFAS department of microbiology and cell science.

Using a technique called a neutralization assay, the researchers showed that the antibodies found in the infants’ stool offered protection against the virus. The assay begins by isolating antibodies from the stool and adding them to a special line of cells that have the kind of receptors the SARS-CoV-2 virus uses to enter the cell. The researchers then introduce a SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus, which acts like the virus that causes COVID-19 but is safer to use in the lab. The pseudovirus is fluorescent, so when it binds to a cell, the cell lights up.

“We saw that when the antibodies were present, there were fewer fluorescent cells compared to our controls where no antibodies were present,” said Lauren Stafford, one of the study’s first authors and a UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences doctoral student in Larkin’s lab.

“The antibodies run interference and don’t let the virus get to the cells,” Larkin added.

While the virus that causes COVID-19 is often thought of as mainly affecting the lungs, it can also invade the gut, which is why finding antibodies there is significant, the researchers said.

“The antibodies ingested through breast milk may provide a protective coating in the infants’ mouths and gastrointestinal tract,” said Dr. Vivian Valcarce Luaces, the study’s other first author and a postdoctoral fellowship trainee in neonatology.

The study also measured and tested antibodies found in the mothers’ blood plasma and breast milk soon after vaccination and then again about six months later. The researchers found that the antibodies in the plasma and milk of vaccinated people were better able to neutralize the virus, though they also observed that antibody levels decreased at the six-month mark, which other vaccine studies have found as well.

Dr. Josef Neu, one of the study’s co-authors and a professor in the UF College of Medicine department of pediatrics, division of neonatology, said the first and second studies together give a more complete picture of how vaccinating against COVID-19 during pregnancy and breastfeeding may be protective for parent and child.

“In our research, we’re following the journey of the antibodies, from the time they are produced in mom after vaccination and now through the baby’s digestive system. The next question is whether those babies are less likely to get COVID-19,” Dr. Neu said.

The researchers say larger studies are needed to answer that question, as this latest study included 37 mothers and 25 infants, a relatively small number of participants.

However, this study adds to a growing body of research revealing how vaccination against COVID-19 during pregnancy and breastfeeding may protect newborns, the researchers say. Currently children under sixth months of age cannot receive the vaccine, so breast milk may be the only avenue for providing immunity.

The study was funded by grants from the Children’s Miracle Network and The Gerber Foundation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccination for people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant or who may become pregnant in the future. According to the CDC, as of late November 2022, just over 70% of pregnant people in the United States had completed the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, though only 14% had received the bivalent booster.

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