2024-2025

The 2025 Florida Principal of the Year receives a $3,500 prize, while the two state finalists receive $1,500 each and the district winners receive $247.

2025 Principal of the Year

Joseph Mikulski
Golden Gate High School
Collier County

As Principal of Golden Gate High School, Joseph Mikulski uses the saying “Go Get One More” as the guiding principle to strive for the next milestone in student success. Through his data-driven approach and unwavering dedication to academic achievement, Golden Gate High School has seen a remarkable increase in student performance, raising their school grade to an “A” in 2023-24. He created Professional Learning Community Days for teachers in tested areas to meet to review data and determine the instructional needs of their students, and what best practices they can implement to ensure students are successful on their end-of-course assessments. He also increased the number of students taking advanced studies classes and raised the graduation rate by over ten percent from 2013-21.

Finalists:

Sarah Tuthill

Felix A. Williams Elementary School
Martin County

Chantal Osborne

Lindsey Hopkins Technical College
Miami-Dade County