Gulf teacher named Florida Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year
Photo at left: Principal Tom Imerson congratulates Carol Hlad at a faculty meeting on Aug. 5, 2002.
The Gulf faculty learned on August 5 that our own Carol Hlad has been selected as Florida's Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year. The announcement was made by Principal Tom Imerson.
She had earlier been named the Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year for Pasco County, having been chosen for the honor from a field of all the vocational teachers in Pasco county high schools and middle schools, as well as Marchman and Moore Mickens Technical Education Centers.
Mrs. Hlad has promoted vocational education at Gulf High School and belongs to several professional organizations. She teaches Nutrition & Wellness, Food Preparation, Child Development, and Life Management.
She has taught at Gulf for six years and in Pasco county since 1980. She previously taught in her native state of Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Hlad said, "I love teaching at Gulf High School. I like the students and the staff here."
The following article, by Michele Miller, appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on March 20, 2002. The photo at left is by Jacquelyn Martin of the Times.
NEW PORT RICHEY -- It's lab day in the advanced food preparation class at Gulf High School, and that means teacher Carol Hlad is buzzing about.
While three groups of students slice fresh strawberries and measure sugar for the jam they'll be making, others need help with worksheets they must complete. Then there's roll to take.
"This is called multitasking," says Hlad, smiling as she breezes by.
"Make sure you mash them well. Do one cup at a time and really smush them down," she tells the strawberry jam makers as she visits each cooking station.
"You're supposed to be working on Chapter 34," she instructs the worksheet students while flipping through the pages of a textbook.
There's no doubt Hlad's classes are a popular draw at Gulf High -- one likely reason she was named the Career and Technical Education Teacher of the Year for Pasco County.
The award is a certainly an honor, Hlad said. But what she is most proud of is the array of students that come through her classroom.
"I have kids who will be going to college, kids in E.H. (emotionally handicapped), kids in the dropout prevention program," she said. "It's really amazing how well they work together."
Before coming to Gulf, where she teaches nutrition and wellness, food preparation, child development and life management, Hlad moved around a bit.
She originally taught home economics in Pittsburgh. "That was the inner city, a real tough area, and I got burned out," she said.
Since moving to Florida in 1979 with her husband, Greg, she has worked as a food products demonstrator for Montgomery Ward, taught at Ridgewood High, ran the child care program at Land O'Lakes High and was the child care training coordinator for the Pasco County School District.
In the six years she has been teaching at Gulf High, she has worked hard to build up what was a dwindling program.
With the latest round of budget cuts, it hasn't been easy.
To help support her program, each day she bakes and sells cookies to students and faculty members. The strawberry jam made last week also will be sold. Students have been willing to pitch in as well. Besides their regular $15 lab fee, many contribute cooking supplies -- sugar, flour, canning jars.
"It's hard, but it does teach the students to be resourceful. That's a good thing, something they'll need to know in life," Hlad said.
Other good things include a Thanksgiving dinner, for which everyone prepared a dish, and some ethnic exploration. Students making peanut soup (Africa), lentils and rice (Middle East) and gazpacho (Latin America). Now students are working on creating their own healthy pasta recipes for an upcoming contest.
"My classes fill up fast," Hlad said. "I don't know if it's because I'm Mrs. Wonderful or if they just like to eat."
Probably a little of both.
"It's a performing arts class; you get to eat, and you learn how to cook, since I don't know how." That's the reason senior Maggie Shaw gave for signing up.
At Gulf High, it seems, Hlad acts as the mother of many, though she and her husband are the parents of a University of Florida freshman named Kristen. The teacher's encouraging style appeals to students, especially when they mess up.
"Is it going to be okay?" asked a worried Lissette Rivera, who had just realized that her group had forgotten to add the butter to its jam recipe.
"The proof will be tomorrow, dear," Hlad said. "Don't worry. It's not devastating. I think it will be okay."
Once she's there, Hlad, who always wears a digital cooking timer pinned to her collar, stays in her classroom until all the buses have rolled out.
"I guess I should get out and be with my peers a little. But some of the kids come in to eat lunch or just drop in to say, 'Hi,' " she said. "So I'm always here."
"I love this school. I think I'll probably retire from here. I just love these kids. They are wonderful. People say teenagers are hopeless, but they're not. They just need a little bit more."
