JOSEPHINE (JO) IVEY

RHS Legacy Award recipient Jo Ivey is a Texas native who began teaching at Riverview in 1980 as a Spanish instructor. She taught for more than three decades, before retiring in 2013. Her tenure at Riverview goes beyond the classroom as she served as Activities Director from 1995 - 2012, Foreign Language Coordinator, and founder and sponsor of the Spanish National Honor Society. 

In 1994, Jo was named RHS’s Teacher of the Year. Four years later, in 1998, she received an Honorary Riverview Alumni Award for work above and beyond for the RHS community. The honors continued in 2006 when Jo received the State Farm Play Strong, Hard, and Fair Award for RHS athletics. The following year, Jo was named National High School Cheerleading Coach of the Year. In 2011, she was inducted into the Riverview Athletic Hall of Fame, followed by the Lady Ram Spirit Award in 2013, and the Sarasota County Schools Senior Volunteer of the Year Award in 2019. 

Jo was born in Waco, Texas and graduated from Snyder High School in 1963. She earned her BS from Hardin-Simmons University in 1967, and her Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from NLU in 1997. 

Jo’s awards were not given lightly. Besides her classroom duties, she became RHS’s cheerleading coach in 1990. During her 21 years as coach, she championed the T.E.A.M. concept (Together Everyone Achieves Miracles), stressing dedication and commitment to the cheerleading program as well the team’s personal and educational goals. In 1994, her squad placed 15th nationally, and in 1998, rose to 9th in the nation. From 1996 - 2009, 41 cheerleaders from her squads were named All American Cheerleaders. 

Jo’s many activities continued when she took Ron Carr’s concept of a RHS Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, formed a committee, and made it a reality. She and her committee later added the Legacy Awards, honoring Riverview teachers and staff. Jo also organized the first reunion for former RHS staff, chaired Riverview’s 60th Anniversary Celebration, was the scorekeeper for the Boys Basketball Program from 1989 through 2020, co-chaired the Ladies of Riverview monthly luncheon for retired RHS women educators, and founded the Archives Room at Riverview. 

“If I do have a legacy,” said Jo, “I would say the most rewarding thing I have done at Riverview was establishing the Archives Room. I began dedicating time to this task a few years before I retired in 2013 and have continued to work on its expansion and additions to the collections.” The Archives Room houses and displays Riverview’s legacy of excellence in academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. One item she is especially proud of is the Athletic Notebook that chronicles all RHS sports, their coaches and team records from the school’s inception in 1958, until 2020. This notebook provides a view of 62 years of excellence in athletics.