Niceville High School’s Richard Hernandez will be honored by the University of Florida as a Distinguished Educator. As a long-time educator and UF graduate, Hernandez has been instrumental in fostering the gifted program at Niceville High School.
The University of Florida will recognize Hernandez during its December commencement.
The most popular and significant program for which Hernandez began is the Natural Geography In Shore Areas (NaGISA) project. NaGISA is a 50-year comprehensive global marine environmental project designed to establish a baseline of biodiversity along the world’s coastline.
Under Hernandez’ leadership, Niceville High School was the only school invited to present at the Census of Marine Life World Conference in London.
Hernandez has also led NaGISA student groups to Japan, Costa Rica, Turkey, Tanzania, Crete, and Egypt. The group will be collecting data in Portugal in June 2015.
The gifted program continues to grow with the most recent implementation of the AICE Global Perspectives program through the University of Cambridge. Hernandez recently attended professional development in Orlando in preparation for that course.