Hurt named ‘Educator of the Year’ by L.E.A.D.
Anderson County district coordinator for school health, Anna Hurt, is presented with the Educator of the Year award by L.E.A.D. Chairman, Kevin Haney (left) and L.E.A.D. CEO, Nick DeMauro.
Hurt received the award at L.E.A.D.’s 10th-annual 21st Century Drug and Violence Prevention Training Conference in Atlantic City, N.J.
“We’re thrilled that Mrs. Hurt is part of our family, and her award is well deserved,” said Nick DeMauro, CEO of L.E.A.D. “With the support of Mrs. Hurt, we look forward to seeing how our program continues to positively impact the community in Anderson County.”
The L.E.A.D. program is currently taught to K-5 students in all nine elementary schools, and students in the high schools in Anderson County.
Hurt said the program is working, citing examples of students advocating against vaping and drug use among their peers.
“On a bus ride home from school, one of the L.E.A.D. elementary students saw a middle schooler using a vape, which then led to the student doing peer outreach by telling the middle schooler why vaping is harmful from everything that the child had learned throughout the program,” Hurt said.
She added, “We’re seeing our referrals for drug and vaping use decrease. We’re hoping that as we continue to expand L.E.A.D. in our county, we’ll see a further reduction.”
According to Hurt, the program increases students’ sense of belonging, and facilitates conversations.
“A lot of the time, we hear stories from the schoolchildren about how they’ve had family members who’ve been involved with dangerous substances,” she said. “I think that the L.E.A.D. curriculum allows the students to understand that alcohol, drugs and violence are issues that impact everyone.”
L.E.A.D. is celebrating its 10th anniversary providing services “On the Street” and “In the Classroom” to bring law enforcement and communities closer together.
The “In The Classroom” program is taught by 6,000 trained instructors in 47 states, serving more than 500,000 students in 2,500 school systems.
The organization offers a proven-effective, law-enforcement-focused anti-drug, anti-violence curriculum for K-12 students.
