Santa Fe College hosts annual Women of Distinction and Promise Awards

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Santa Fe College kicked off Women’s History Month with their annual Women of Distinction and Promise Awards at the UF Hilton.

This year four women were honored as women of distinction--Yvette Carter, Bea Awoniyi, Lisa Prevatt and Annette Bauer.

Bauer--who died in 2020--was honored posthumously and represented by her son and her sister.

“I am overwhelmed,” said Carter, “for sure. I am so grateful and thankful, it means the world to me. The service that I do in the community is not for any recognition, but to be recognized is a surprise and I am just grateful.”

Carter is the Chief Inclusion Officer at GRU, and says women are the backbone of society

“For someone to stop,” she said, “take time to create an event or create a time to honor women means a lot. Women to me are the heart of our humanity, to stop and say ‘women, you are worthy, you are honored and we appreciate you, it is phenomenal.”

The newest honorees join 206 women before in them in this very distinct club.

Carter spoke about the emotions she felt to be recognized with such an honor.

“It is absolutely unbelievable,” said Carter. “There are such icons on the list for Women of Distinction and to be counted among them is truly unbelievable, and I know I’ve said grateful many times but I am just absolutely grateful for this.”

Along with the four Women of Distinction, Santa Fe honors a young woman as their Woman of Promise each year.

This year’s Woman of Promise is Emma Hutto, a first-year nursing student at Santa Fe.

She entered the college having already received her AA from Florida gateway College while in high school.

Women’s History Month celebrations continue all month at Santa Fe, including Thursday when they honor women of the military.

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