Four Duval County teachers are $15,000 richer today after being honored for achievements in the classroom.

The winners of the 2016 Gladys Prior Awards for Career Teaching were visited in their classrooms Monday and Tuesday with a contingent of University of North Florida educators congratulating them on behalf of Gilchrist Berg, a Jacksonville area businessman who created and funds the awards.

Slideshow: 2016 Gladys Prior Awards

Susan Harper, a kindergarten teacher at Tiger Academy; Scott Sowell, a science teacher at Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School; Judy Reppert, a social studies and civics teacher at Martin J. Gottlieb Day School; and Mark McGiveron, a math teacher at Fletcher Middle School each won cash awards, which honor accomplished teachers who have had long careers.

Berg, founder and president of Water Street Capital, established the award in 1998, naming it after his fourth-grade teacher at Ortega Elementary, to reward teachers with lifelong commitments to education. So far 76 teachers in public and private schools in Duval County have won.

UNF's College of Education and Human Services manages the gift and the award competition each year.

An educator for more than 40 years, Susan Harper teaches kindergarten at Tiger Academy, a charter school, after a lengthy career in Duval County Public Schools. Principal Charles McWhite said Harper helps her children develop stellar speaking and listening skills. He said many teachers regularly visit her classroom to gain ideas for their classrooms. Students hugged Harper when the award was announced and some asked if her tears were happy or sad tears.

Scott Sowell, a science teacher at Darnell-Cookman, noted that as a student he was taught by two inspiring teachers who also had won Gladys Prior awards. Sowell was Duval County's Teacher of the Year in 2012. Kaitlyn Rullo, a former student who now studies coastal environmental science, credited Sowell for changing her life.

"I found a passion in the environment that I never expected, and it was all due to Dr. Sowell, as he would teach every day with such joy and contentment," she wrote in her letter.

Judy Reppert has taught more than 40 years including this year's middle school position at Martin J. Gottlieb Day School.

"Students return year after year to visit and talk with her," said Edith Horovitz, vice principal.

Crowds of students regularly gather before school at the classroom door of Mark McGiveron, a math teacher at Fletcher Middle. They're members of Fletcher Middle School's Math Team, which won a number of local, regional and state math competitions, earning the school National Gold Level School Status with the MathCounts Foundation. In addition to leading the team, McGiveron also holds the record in Duval County public schools for the highest number of students passing the end-of-course exam in geometry.

Denise Amos: (904) 359-4083