1. Current Name:
Sherri T. Reynolds
Name When Scholarship Received: Sherri Lynn Tierney
2. Mailing Address: 446 Camille Drive, Osprey, Florida 34229
3. Email Address: sherrireynolds@ hotmail.com
Home Phone: 966‑7623 Cell Phone: 223‑8053 Work Phone: 927‑9000 ext. 34309
4. University Attended: University of Florida
5. Year(s) Selby Scholarship Received: 1971‑ 1975 (four consecutive years)
6. Amount of Scholarship Assistance Received: I am embarrassed to say that I do not remember the exact amount. I seem to recall it was $ 1000 each year, for a total of $4000.00.
7. How the Selby Scholarship Impacted Me During My School Years: Being the oldest of four children, my parents could not afford to send me to college. My father was a small business owner and my mother was disabled from contracting tuberculosis while working night shifts as a nurse. She had spent several years confined to a Sanitarium and could not work. Tuition at the University of Florida in the early 1970's was around $5000.00/year. A lot of money for that time. The scholarships made it possible for me to receive a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Nursing; graduating cum laude. Since then I have attained a master's degree in Health Education from Nova University (graduating magna cum laude) and six doctoral hours in Management and Supervision from USF, all while working full‑time.
8. How I Have Used My Education to Make a Positive Impact on the Community and/or World: I have always believed that each of us either make or break our community. The "community" doesn't just happen. It is what we personally put into it to make it the best place to live. For the past 30 years, I have been involved in community affairs in both Manatee and Sarasota counties as well as professional organizations statewide and nationally. I am currently the Supervisor of Pupil Support Services for the Sarasota County School Board since 1993. Supervising duties include prevention programs (Safe and Drug Free Schools, Violence Prevention, Character Education, and the Homeless Youth Education program) and health services (school nurses, athletic trainers, and OSHA regulations). I am responsible for budget management, staff supervision, short and long range strategic planning, facilitating trainings and department publications as well as being a liaison with community agencies, Juvenile Justice and Law Enforcement. Previously I worked at Manatee County School Board for seven years as an administrator coordinating health education programs for 36 schools, serving over 27,000 students and at Manatee Memorial Hospital for seven years in Human Resources and Development facilitating inservice programs for all hospital staff, physicians and community education. I was an adjunct professor and thesis advisor for Nova University for 12 years.
My hospital career taught me the value of prevention programming. When you repeatedly see the same people in the hospital year after year, you realize how you can make an impact on people's lives to have healthier lifestyles. Community education and youth health education became a priority for me. Because there was never any funding for prevention programming, I wrote many grants to promote community programs. I have authored over 100 grants and have managed 60% of them. My grant writing success gave me the duty of establishing the grants department at the Sarasota School Board in 1995.
To promote healthy lifestyles, I have lectured at professional conferences statewide and nationally for over 20 years. I have published two health education textbooks, several journal articles and served as the editor on several newsletters (currently am the Newsletter Editor for the Florida School Health Association and a peer reviewer for the Journal of Health Education of the American Association of Health Educators). My belief that peer education is a powerful prevention tool has been documented in the above publications and lectures I have given. In 1987, 1 established the Peer Counseling program in Manatee County schools and continue to supervise and promote that program in Sarasota County schools.
I have been involved in various community activities and organizations for the past 30 years and have assumed many leadership roles. Local boards that I currently serve on are the Suncoast Community Blood Bank, American Heart Association (former Board President), American Lung Association, Sarasota Human Service Advisory Council (appointed by the County Commission), Sarasota Historical Commission (appointed by the County Commission), Sarasota Coalition on Substance Abuse (Secretary), Sarasota Juvenile Justice Council (Past Chairman), Sarasota Community Alliance for Human Services and the Sarasota School District Administrators Association (President). I serve on the Executive Board of the Sarasota Obesity Prevention Coalition, Steering Committee of the Sarasota Healthy Kids Insurance Advisory Committee, and was on two work study groups of SCOPE: Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence (transportation and school dropout prevention). I have been actively involved with the Sarasota County United Way, serving as the Education Unit Campaign Chair for the past two years, on the Continuum of Care Leadership Council for Homelessness, and the Whole Child Committee. A new innovative project I am involved with the United Way is on preventing homelessness for Sarasota youth and families in conjunction with Jewish Family and Children Services.
On a statewide level, I serve on the boards of the Tampa Bay Coalition of School Administrators, Florida School Health Association (former President), Florida Department of Education Health Education Consortium, Florida Association of Student Services Administrators (former President), Florida Partnerships in Character Education Advisory Committee at the University of Central Florida, Florida Peer Helpers Association (former President), Florida Foundation for School Health (Program Planning Committee) and the Florida Association of Professional Health Educators (former Legislative Chair). Nationally, I continue to serve on the Board of Directors of the American School Health Association (former Director of the Health Education Section and Chair of the Legislative Committee).
Legislative Impact: I have always valued our voices legislatively and was directly involved with the search and hiring of the legislative consultants for both the Florida School Health Association (FSHA) and the American School Health Association (ASHA). In fact, I modeled ASHA's legislative consultant contract after the FSHA model. Several school health education and services legislative initiatives have been implemented because of these efforts. I continue to serve on both of these legislative committees developing issue statements and national resolutions, and hold membership in the Sarasota League of Women Voters and Tiger Bay.
Honors: American Cancer Society's Nurse of Hope in 1981 (Dayton, OH); National "Healthy Me" Award from Metropolitan Life Insurance (co‑recipient) in 1989; American School Health Association National Health Educator of the Year in 1990 (first recipient of annual award); Florida American Heart Association Silver, Bronze and Gold Awards in 1992, 1993, and 1995 respectively; American School Health Association Distinguished Service Award in 1996; and received Fellowship designation from ASHA in 1998.
My leadership abilities, positive attitude, high energy and sense of humor have helped me to be encouraging and supportive to others. I have been dubbed an "innovator," activator" and "forerunner in the field of health education" by others and hope to continue to work within our community, state and nation to promote healthy lifestyles and positive citizenship. The generosity of the Selby Foundation to help fund my college education has set the tone for my proactive approach to community wellness. I look forward to new opportunities to enhance our community.