Student wins Distinguished Achievement Award from Florida Bar for contributions to animal law

Jennifer Winn with plastic straws retrieved during a local cleanup. Photo courtesy Vanessa Moore.

Jennifer Winn with plastic straws retrieved during a local trash cleanup with Stetson Law students in March. Photo courtesy Vanessa Moore.

Student Jennifer Winn was presented with the Distinguished Achievement Award on June 15 in Orlando from the Florida Bar Animal Law Section for her contributions to animal law in Florida.

Jennifer Winn.

Jennifer Winn received the Distinguished Achievement Award. Photo courtesy Jennifer Winn.

Winn spearheaded a proposed ordinance to ban disposable plastic straws in restaurants in Gulfport, Florida, as part of a class project for Stetson law professor Lance Long’s environmental advocacy class. Plastic straws that wash into the ocean as trash harm marine life and the initiative to ban plastic straws is gaining momentum in Florida and across the country. In July, the St. Petersburg City Council will examine how to deal with disposable plastics including straws, bags and polystyrene containers.

Winn is a member of the Environmental Law Society and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund at Stetson, and will be studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, this summer.

Learn more about Winn’s advocacy work in the Tampa Bay Times and WMNF News.