News and Events
Okeechobee SWAT Welcomes Two New Advisors!
October 1, 2022
The Okeechobee County Students Working Agaist Tobacco (SWAT) Chapter has two new SWAT Advisors for the 2022-2023 school year! We are pleased to introduce these new youth leaders.
Yearling Middle School
| Born and raised in Jamaica, Ms. Saleem Johnson has been a teacher for 10 years and joined Okeechobee County in 2021. She is an exchange teacher currently in her second year. She has taught numerous grades at the Green Island Primary school in Jamaica where she was the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) coordinator at her school. She currently teaches 6th English Language Arts (ELA) at Yearling Middle School. From a tender age, she fell in love with books and she is currently the sponsor for the Step Up Literacy Club at Yearling Middle School. She holds a bachelors in Language Education-Literacy Studies. Ms. Johnson is an enthusiastic and vibrant teacher and she is excited to lead the YMS SWAT Club and encourages all students to join the club and be educated about BIG Tobacco. |  |
Osceola Middle School
 |
Mr. Eric Degbor was born and raised in Ghana, a beautiful county in Western Sub Sahara Africa. After high school, Mr. Degbor studied at St. Francis College of Education, training as a teacher of Science and Mathematics. He transferred to the University of Education, Winneba Ghana where he graduated with a Bachelors of Education in Mathematics and a minor in Information Technology. After several years of teaching, he additionally earned a post-graduate certificate in Managment Information Systems and a Masters of Educational Leadership and Managment from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration GIMPA and University of Ghana respectively. Combined, Mr. Degbor has over 22 years of teaching experience. |
In August 2022, Mr. Degbor took up appointment as an exchange teacher to teach Mathematics at Osceola Middle School in Okeechobee. He saw it as a great opportunity to share cultural ideas and impart knowledge to learners all while playing to the rule of every child matters hence no child must be left behind. Mr. Degbor shared that he was moved by the alarming rate of vaping and tobacco usage by teenagers in schools, which led to his interest in leading the advocacy for SWAT for OMS.
SWAT aims to empower, educate and equip Florida youth to revolt against Big Tobacco. SWAT is a movement of empowered youth working together to de-glamorize tobacco use. Their efforts aim to shape tobacco-free norms, make tobacco less desirable, less acceptable, and less accessible! For more information on local youth tobacco prevention efforts, visit www.swatflorida.com or contact Courtney Moyett, Okeechobee County's Tobacco Program Manager, at CMoyett@QuitDoc.com.
