BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Lisa Prevatt and Paula Register were honored at the Bradford County Education Foundation’s sixth annual Leave a Legacy event, which was held Aug. 29 at Starke’s Madison Street Baptist Church.
A fundraising Dessert Dash was also part of the event, as were drawings for a 2005 Honda Rancher 350 ATV (donated by the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office) and an electric scooter (donated by Robin Witt). Sherry Ruszkowski won the ATV, while Brenda Donaldson won the scooter.
Natalie Whytsell, who was Bradford’s 2023-24 Teacher of the Year, performed two songs.
As guests enjoyed dinner, they watched a video featuring interviews with both Prevatt and Register. Both honorees then participated in a question-and-answer session with Bradford County Judge Tatum Davis, who served as the event’s emcee.
Lisa Prevatt
At the beginning of her video interview, Prevatt talked of being born in Memphis, Tennessee, and of her family moving to Starke in 1974 after living in Jacksonville.
“I started school in the ninth grade at Bradford High School,” she said. “I did graduate from there in 1977 and was a proud Tornado.”
Prevatt went to what was then known as Santa Fe Community College, earning a degree in nuclear-medicine technology. She worked in that field for 10 years.
“I loved it, but after I had my first child, I did decide I wanted to have more quality time (with family) and not have to spend weekends and nights on call,” Prevatt said.
As part of a family of educators, Prevatt said “it was easy to see how education was good hours for a mother and would be a good choice.”
After earning a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education at the University of North Florida, she taught for 12 years (most first and third grades) in Lawtey and at Starke Elementary School. Prevatt said she remembered one year as a third-grade teacher in Lawtey in which her class held an election for officers, inspired by the fact that it was an election year. Prevatt said the elected class officers, including “our now-famous County Judge Tatum Davis,” went through a swearing-in ceremony performed by Judge Johnny Hobbs at Lawtey City Hall.
“That was just such an amazing moment and so much fun,” Prevatt said.
Prevatt, who was a Teacher of the Year and a University of Florida Distinguished Educator in 1998, earned her master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. She served as assistant principal at Southside Elementary and BHS and as principal at Lawtey.
After a nine-year stint as Bradford’s assistant superintendent of schools, Prevatt returned to where her career began, serving as Lawtey Elementary principal for four years until her retirement, wrapping up 20 years as an administrator.
“I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end my career,” Prevatt said, adding, “We just developed such a positive team camaraderie (at Lawtey).”
Prevatt talked of school grades not being released by state during the covid year, but based on calculations, the Lawtey school would’ve received an A by five points.
It was a good way to go into retirement.
“We celebrated that together at the welcome-back breakfast the following year,” Prevatt said. “What a great way to be able to just go off into the sunset.”
During her Q-and-A session with Davis, Prevatt, in response to a question about her favorite job, reiterated how special it was spending the end of her career at Lawtey.
“I think I’ll always just remember those last four years at Lawtey,” Prevatt said. “It was such a great time because the faculty and staff just jelled.”
Prevatt added that in looking at the Leave a Legacy crowd, she saw a lot of people she worked with — people who were special to her.
“I see so many wonderful colleagues who have just been a blessing in my life,” she said.
When asked by Davis what one change she would make to education, Prevatt said, “For me, that one thing would be to look at the student instead of just test scores because so often there are students who have so much to give and have so much potential, but a test score is holding them back. I just feel like we need to get away from that. We’ve got to remember these are children. We need to respect them and find ways to lift them instead of holding them back and holding them down.”
During her time working Bradford schools, Prevatt was appointed to the Santa Fe College board of trustees in 2012 and then re-appointed in 2021. She was named trustee emeritus in April 2022.
Prevatt talked of working with the Santa Fe board to obtain a $4 million grant that will go toward creating a Santa Fe nursing facility at North Florida Technical College. Prevatt said the grant will help “bring in the equipment and help renovate the buildings so that (students) will have the best possible setting for their studies.”
When Davis asked her about what it means for Santa Fe College to have a presence in Bradford County, Prevatt said it helps those students who have financial or other barriers by giving them the chance to take classes locally instead of driving to Gainesville.
“For some of them, that would be a complete barrier to continue their education,” Prevatt said. “It just makes a difference in those lives.”
Church has been an important part of Prevatt’s life. She teaches a women’s Sunday school class and is also part of a Bible club.
In looking for things to do during retirement, Prevatt said she became involved with Chesed House, a Christian women’s shelter in Starke. She serves on its board of directors and teaches a Genesis Process program each week with the women Chesed House serves, “helping to heal them from hurts, habits and hangups.”
“They are recovering from a variety of different challenges and setbacks they’ve had in their lives,” Prevatt said. “I will tell you, these women are working so hard to get their lives back on course.”
When Davis asked Prevatt what one piece of advice she would share with the Leave a Legacy crowd, she shared something she heard from someone else about continuing to walk in faith.
“When prayer left the school, it took quite a bit out, but somebody just reminded me — you may not be able to talk the talk, but you can walk the walk. That can make such a difference.”
In closing her Q-and-A session, Prevatt said, “I just want to say, wow. I’ve got family, of course, here. My kids — I’m so thankful for them. The Register family is my family, too. I’m just so thankful for them.
“All of you friends and colleagues, I appreciate you being here.”
Paula Register
Register was born in Orange, Texas, and raised in Athens, Alabama. She said she met Freeman Register, who would be her husband, at a Baptist church, where her father was a deacon. She was a senior at Athens High School, while Freeman was a student at Athens College.
Their first date was on a Sunday night after a social.
“On the way back (home), we ran out of gas,” Register said. “Of course, I was late getting home.”
Register remembered telling the story later as an adult with her mother present.
“My mother looked at me and said, ‘Did you really run out of gas?’”
Register was married in 1969 after Freeman completed Officer Candidate School at Columbus, Georgia’s Fort Benning (now Fort Moore). She attended the University of North Alabama and earned a degree in Business Administration. Freeman’s military service included going to Vietnam.
In the summer of 1971, the couple moved to Starke — Freeman’s hometown.
“I remember the first time I came down to visit,” Register said. “Of course, I’m from north Alabama. We have hills. They’re not mountains, as my husband thought they were. They’re hills.
“I remember when we hit Lake City and got on 100. I had never seen a road so straight and so flat. You could see forever.”
Register began teaching Business Education in the old C building at BHS. It was the start of a 17-year career that included teaching at Bradford Middle School and at what is now North Florida Technical College.
“The highlight was just knowing that you were helping the kids,” Register said.
Davis asked her if the skills she taught, such as typing, budgeting and writing checks, were still important in today’s “tech-savvy” world. Register said knowing how to type can still be important, with students now using computers at school and, of course, composing text messages on phones, but she wasn’t sure people were utilizing some of the other things she once taught.
“So many of the young people now and even the adults live by their credit card, so I don’t know that they really know how much money they have,” Register said.
Register said the type of paperwork today’s teachers have is much different from the paperwork she was responsible for, but the thing she shared with those who face today’s challenges is a desire to teach.
“You’ve got to love to do it,” Register said. “I did love it. I loved seeing (students) improve.”
While teaching, Register also served as sponsor for Future Business Leaders of America. She reminisced about taking students to competitions.
“We would go to the district, which would be either in Jacksonville or Gainesville,” Register said. “Then, I carried some students to state, which was like in Orlando. Actually, some of them placed at state.”
Register took on a new career when she opened and operated the Jr. Food Mart at the corner of U.S. 301 and S.R. 100 (where today’s Shell station is). She later sold the store and taught a couple of years at the Santa Fe College
Andrews Center. Then, Register and her husband opened Hampton Bed and Breakfast in 1999. They operated it for 22 years, hosting and meeting people from all over the world.
One thing that has characterized Register’s life is her community involvement. She’s been a member of Madison Street Baptist Church for 54 years and has been in both the Rotary Club of Starke and the Bradford County Education Foundation for approximately 30 years.
“I guess I’m a people person,” Register said. “That just makes you feel like you’ve got to do something.”
Alluding to her service with Rotary, Davis said, “There’s probably not anybody in this room who hasn’t bought a funnel cake from you at the fair.”
Davis then asked Register how important it was to instill a sense of community service in others.
“I think if we don’t pass some of that responsibility to some of the younger generation, so much of it is just going to fall by the wayside and not be important,” Register said.
Register said travels with her family have created her favorite memories. She said she and her husband always had a camper or some type of motorhome.
“That’s what we did with our kids,” Register said. “They didn’t have lots of stuff, but we went to places.”
In closing her Q-and-A session, Register said she enjoyed the fact that she and Prevatt were being honored at the same time.
“A lot of people don’t realize we’re sisters-in-law,” Register said, adding, “If people looked at our picture books, we’ve got family that’s intertwined in pictures. This is quite an honor to be able to share this tonight with her.”
She left the audience with this piece of advice, which came to her as she was looking through old pictures for the education foundation to use for the event: “I realized how blessed I really was. I think we just need to all be very mindful to live for today. We don’t know what tomorrow brings.”
BCEF
The Bradford County Education Foundation was created in 1990. It is an all-volunteer organization that raises funds for Bradford public schools and teachers.
BCEF President Cheryl Canova said the organization has approximately 15 members — members who are expected to be active. In fact, BCEF members are the waiters and waitresses at the Leave a Legacy events.
“We can’t fire the volunteers,” Canova said, “but if they don’t participate, we ask them to step down.”
Canova shared BCEF highlights from this past year, including raising $100,000 through hosting World Reading Initiative events and obtaining a $500,000 resiliency grant.
The total amount BCEF raised through this year’s Leave a Legacy is still to be determined, but the Dessert Dash alone raised $9,400.
“I can’t say enough about the education foundation and all the work that they do,” Bradford Superintendent of Schools Will Hartley said. “They do an amazing job.”
If you’d like to know more about BCEF, visit bceducationfoundation.org. You can also follow BCEF at facebook.com/BradfordCountyEducationFoundation.
