[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E45]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 LESLIE POHLEY HONORED AS FLORIDA'S OUTSTANDING MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE 
                          TEACHER OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 8, 2009

  Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Leslie 
Pohley, a teacher I represent at Largo Middle School, who has been 
named Florida's Outstanding Middle School Science Teacher of the Year.
  Ms. Pohley was honored by her peers at the Florida Association of 
Science Teachers. Her principal Fred Ulrich told The St. Petersburg 
Times, ``She is the science teacher every principal would love to have 
on staff. She cares about her students.''
  A teacher at Largo Middle School for 30 years, Ms. Pohley grew up in 
Pinellas County, Florida where she now teaches. She graduated from 
Clearwater High School in 1973 and holds two bachelor's degrees from 
the University of South Florida. One degree is in science education and 
the other in biology.
  Previous honors for Ms. Pohley include being named the 2003 Air Force 
Association Science Teacher of the Year, the 2004 recipient of the 
Southwest Florida Water Management District Outstanding Leadership in 
Environmental Education Award, and being selected for a National 
Science Foundation fellowship program at the University of Georgia.
  Madam Speaker, at a time when the education of our children is a top 
national priority, especially in the fields of math and science, I 
salute Leslie Pohley for her lifelong dedication to teaching. 
Throughout the past 30 years, teaching from the same classroom at Largo 
Middle School, she has touched the lives of thousands of students and 
impressed upon them the value and importance of the sciences.

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