August 3, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 137 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Pages S4666-S4667]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO KATRINA RODDENBERRY

 Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, today I recognize Katrina 
Roddenberry, the Wakulla County Teacher of the Year from Wakulla Middle 
School in Crawfordville, FL.
  Katrina finds it incredibly rewarding to see students motivated by 
science experiments and researching on their own about careers in 
science fields. She strives to spark their interests, which helped to 
raise Wakulla Middle School's average science proficiency on the 
Florida Science Assessment for eighth grade by 23 percent, which is 21 
percent above the State average.
  Katrina created and sponsors her school's science, technology, 
engineering, and math club, is an Odyssey of the Mind coach, Fellowship 
of Christian Athletes cosponsor, and is a teacher coach. She believes 
the ultimate measure of her success as a science teacher is when her 
students leave her classroom with strong foundational knowledge of 
science concepts and a renewed curiosity and love of learning about the 
world around them.
  Katrina is in her third year of teaching middle school science and 
high school credit integrated science and integrated science honors to 
eighth graders at Wakulla Middle School. Previously, she taught third 
and fifth grade at Riversink Elementary School and is in her 12th year 
of teaching. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education 
from Flagler College, earned certifications in exceptional student 
education, middle grades integrated, and general science for sixth 
through ninth grades. She received her master's degree from American 
College of Education in curriculum and instruction with a concentration 
in teaching science and is an adjunct professor at Flagler College in 
Tallahassee. Katrina is also a NASA Space Foundation Teacher Liaison, 
is on the Space Educators Expedition Crew, and is a member of the 
National

[[Page S4667]]

Science Teachers Association and the Florida Association of Science 
Teachers.
  I offer my sincere gratitude to Katrina for her years of hard work. I 
look forward to hearing of her continued good work in the years to 
come.

                          ____________________