Life lessons
For Chanda Leon, the biology classroom at Martin County High School in Stuart is more than a place to teach: It is a space where curiosity is sparked, questions are encouraged and complex biological concepts come to life.
E.N.D. IT!’s 2025 summer program performed Camp Rock at the IRSC McAlpin Fine Arts Center. MARYANN KETCHAM
Miracle workers
A few years ago, Talib Moore, now 14, was quiet. Too quiet. His father had passed away; COVID had affected his education. Increasingly closed off, his life might have taken a different turn, had his mother not encouraged him to check out an area nonprofit called E.N.D. IT!
Treasure Coast High School’s LPN students are recognizable by their professional uniforms — and their ability to pronounce the word sphygmomanometer [blood pressure monitor].
RUSTY DURHAM
Medical first
This year’s homecoming at Treasure Coast High School in Port St. Lucie was especially significant: It was the 20th anniversary of the Titans. However, not everyone on campus noticed. Misha Fenelus is a junior at TCHS and a second-year student in the school’s inaugural licensed practical nurse [LPN] program — the first of its kind in Florida.
Morningside Academy uses a variety of academically challenging curricula for its Upper School, as well as offering dual enrollment through Palm Beach Atlantic University. MORNINGSIDE ACADEMY
Divine education
Since 1987, Morningside Academy — Port St. Lucie’s oldest private school — has fulfilled the dual purpose of stimulating the intelligence of its students to achieve academic excellence and molding excellence of character through faith-based instruction.
Growing up in New York, Puerto Rico and England, it is no surprise that Dr. Herb Ricardo’s career includes travel around the world. HERB RICARDO PHOTOS
Well-traveled teacher
Herb Ricardo’s education hit a wall when he was 13. According to his teachers, he’d never use his brain for academics.
Christopher Sweeney teaches art to K-5th graders at Beachland Elementary School with a flair for the whimsical that keeps his students engaged. RUSTY DURHAM PHOTOS
The Art Teacher
Peter Pan has nothing on Christopher Sweeney, an art teacher at Beachland Elementary School in Vero Beach.
As a fifth-grade gifted teacher, Joshua Perry enjoys tapping into his students’ creativity by providing a flexible curriculum that focuses on academics and life lessons, while encouraging the performing arts.RUSTY DURHAM
The Gifted Teacher
Teaching runs in Joshua Perry’s DNA. And fortunately for his students, Martin County’s newest teacher of the year decided to follow in his family’s footsteps.
The Promise Program at Indian River State College gives local high school graduates the opportunity to earn an associate degree — tuition free. James Crocco © Indian River State College PHOTOS
CLASS ACT
For years, Indian River State College has been a beacon of higher learning providing quality, affordable education to students.
A group of middle school students is engaged in playing Lagoonology, a game about the Indian River Lagoon that comes with a room-sized gameboard. JOHN BUCK PHOTOS
GAME CHANGER
John Buck entertains, teaches and engages classrooms of middle school students for an hour with nary a screen in sight. How is the miracle achieved? The feat is due to Lagoonology, the interactive, room-size board game he invented.
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