Hosts

Debi Pedraza

A proud graduate of Florida public schools and the University of Pennsylvania, Debi Pedraza has spent the last 26 years in educational fundraising and development, actively participating on teams that have raised more than $114 million for educational institutions in Massachusetts (a traditional boarding school), Maryland (a school and open community program for children and adults with developmental disabilities) and Florida (OCPS).

Prior to her work in educational fundraising and development, she served as a paralegal for five years. She was named the state of Indiana’s Paralegal of the Year for developing a statewide Code of Ethics for the profession.

Mrs. Pedraza joined OCPS in February 2013 as the district’s first Director of Philanthropic Development, and worked to secure resources needed to implement eight districtwide initiatives described in the OCPS Philanthropic Strategic Plan. In July 2016, she joined the Foundation as its Senior Director and became Executive Director in July 2020. As Executive Director, she leads 11 outstanding team members.

Mrs. Pedraza also served as Vice President of Education for the Central Florida chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals for three years. She is a member of the Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership, 100 Women Strong and the Fellowship of Women Leaders. She is a certified TetraMap facilitator and leads sessions on group dynamics for the district’s Emerging Leaders and Management Leaders Academies.

Most importantly, Mrs. Pedraza is an OCPS parent and volunteer. Her son is a seventh grader at Odyssey Middle School, and she tutors first graders at Vista Lakes Elementary School for Read2Succeed.

Diamond Volunteer Coordinator

The Diamond Volunteer Coordinator of the Year represents more than 700 coordinators across the district who are dedicated to managing community involvement activities on their school campus or within their department, and embodies the overall characteristics of an exemplary site-based coordinator.

This coordinator is highly respected by the school staff and commmunity, and is extremely consistent in the efforts of recruitment, retention and recognition of the school’s volunteers and/ or business partners. The Diamond Coordinator must serve in a community involvement coordinator role for more than 10 years.

Denise Hartman

Diamond Coordinator of the Year

Dr. Phillips Elementary, Southwest Learning Community

For more than 15 years, Denise Hartman has been a Partners in Education (PIE) Coordinator for Dr. Phillips Elementary as well as the ADDitions and Five Star School coordinator.

Principal Christine Rogers: “Denise manages her teaching responsibilities and extensive community involvement like no other. If there is a need within our walls, Denise will find a way to fill that void.”

As PIE coordinator, Ms. Hartman has brought many successful programs to life at Dr. Phillips Elementary. For the past seven years, Mathnasium has sponsored Math Curriculum Night and utilizes middle- and high-school student volunteers for math activities; secures Partners in Education financial support for PTA fall and spring fundraising events; maintains the business-partner incentive program for the Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA), teacher appreciation and giveaways and student-of-the-month celebrations.

Through school partnerships, Ms. Hartman has also provided dismissal car and book-bag tags for the past eight years, a playground sunshade, and has supported Honor Roll Spirit Night. It is simply not possible to cite everything that Denise has done while holding this position at Dr. Philips Elementary.

In terms of leadership, Denise takes charge effortlessly. She prepares a presentation at the beginning of the year to welcome partners and explain the benefits of their membership. Denise invites the local businesses to speak to the classes for 20-25 minutes during the “TeachIn” event. Ms. Hartman attends the PIE trainings and provides recognition for local businesses through Facebook and Instagram, the school marquee, ConnectEd phone messages, principal newsletters and the DPES website. She also meets with PIE coordinators. She is in constant contact with community businesses, and informs them of current events and opportunities. Her commitment to establishing a mutuallybeneficial partnership is evident in the fact that partners have informed us that their establishments are seeing a revenue increase due to their partnership with Dr. Phillips Elementary.

In terms of meeting the needs of both the community and our school, Denise has far surpassed expectations.

“Denise Hartman works tirelessly to better our school and its involvement within our vast community. Her relationship with business partners impacts student achievement, teacher morale and enhanced community relationships. It is simple to say that we would be lost without her and that she makes our school a better place for students, families and communities alike.”

Evelyn Rosado Community Involvement Coordinator

Wyndham Lakes Elementary

Southeast Learning Community

Evelyn Rosado is a pillar of Wyndham Lakes Elementary and its community. She makes sure events are well-executed, the school has enough volunteers and that everything is flawless. Beyond overseeing a group of volunteers and completing a list of tasks, a great volunteer coordinator helps each member of the school and community to be more efficient while also using their skills to fulfill the long-term goals of the organization. Evelyn actively maintains the volunteer data using the eCoordinator site. She never stops recruiting community members to be ADDitions School Volunteers and Partners in Education. She strives to make Wyndham Lakes Elementary better every day!

Karl Moore, former Oxford professor and leadership researcher, states that “a good team leader is able to convince others to act upon a mission, helps resolve a crisis, addresses team concerns and ideas and knows when to push and when to allow people to relax.” Evelyn utilizes these qualities in her role as the community involvement coordinator and ESOL specialist every day. She has the best personality for recruiting school volunteers and having Wyndham Lakes Elementary staff donate their time for activities. Evelyn also actively recruits mentors for the different student-academic