Lake Okeechobee News/Richard Marion
Amanda Riedel holds the plaque awarded to her by Okeechobee County Commissioner Kelly Owens on behalf of the Florida School Boards Association.

At their monthly meeting on March 5, the Okeechobee County School Board approved the instructional calender for the upcoming 2019-20 school year.

New teachers are scheduled to report on Aug. 1 this year, with returning teachers reporting on Aug. 5. Students will begin the school year on Aug. 12.

Schools will start their winter break on Dec. 24 and return on Jan. 7, while spring break will occur a week later than in the 2018-19 school year, starting on the week of March 16. Finally, May 30 is scheduled to be the last day of the school year, with graduation slated for May 31.

The board also approved a bid from Lynch Paving & Construction Co. for an asphalt project at Okeechobee High School. The contract will cost $77,551. Okeechobee County School District Director of Operations Brian Barrett was in attendance at the meeting to speak about the project.

“We’re going to asphalt the south gate of the high school that goes around the stadium,” said Mr. Barrett. “If you’ve driven through there, it’s in pretty bad shape. We’re going to stop at the end of the Y intersection that splits off into student parking.” Mr. Barrett explained they also plan to do some work at the north entrance of the high school, including moving the guard shack farther back behind the visitor parking lot. Currently, once a visitor gets through the guard shack they’re able to essentially drive to wherever they like on campus. By moving the shack farther back, any visitors during school hours will be limited to the visitor parking lot.

Okeechobee County Commissioner Kelly Owens attended the school board meeting on behalf of the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA) to recognize school board chairwoman Jill Holcomb and vice chairwoman Amanda Riedel and present them with their certified board member distinction from the FSBA.

Ms. Holcomb and Ms. Riedel completed 96 hours of professional development in areas of study including school finance, policy governance, personnel and bargaining, advocacy and leadership.
“Jill and Amanda have done this voluntarily on their own time above and beyond the roles and responsibilities they have as school board members,” said Commissioner Owens. “Their commitment to enhancing their individual skills as board members will have a positive impact on students in this district, and that is most important of all.”

LaBelle and Clewiston to urge legislators to support public school financing and public school children.

Kimberly Stitt, president of the Hendry County Education Association, said: “Our public schools are being starved of funds to meet the needs of students, teachers and districts. Last year we were given 47 cents while hundreds of millions were given to private schools from taxpayer dollars. Over 96 percent of Florida students attend public schools, yet the legislature is pouring money into private schools, which are required to take no FSA or EOC tests like third- through 12th-graders in public schools. Yet, Tallahassee continues to underfund public schools, while overtesting our children from the age of 8 years old. It is time for parents and teachers to stand up for public school students. We need to demand better for our public schools and our students.”

Teachers urge parents to call or email their local legislators to urge support of public schools.

Special to the Lake Okeechobee News
OMS Students of the Week.

OKEECHOBEE — Osceola Middle School would like to congratulate its Students of the Week for the week of March 20. They are (in no particular order): Lane Davis, Jordan Rulong, Tanner St. Pierre, Jakob Henderson, Alejandro Liberato, Devon Chavis, Kevin Galdamez, Brianna Serrano, Princesa Lopez, Jayla Leon, Claudia Alvarado, Cameron Williams and Ruby Garcia.

Special to the Lake Okeechobee News
SES Students of the Week for the week of March 18.

Okeechobee — South Elementary School would like to congratulate its Students of the Week for the week of March 18. Here they are in no particular order: Sophia Cardonas, Adlemi Quiroz, Emma Chapman , Alexis Alvarado , Christopher Johnson, Cerenity Smith, McKayla Lassiter, Kinsley Faulkner, Jayce Rodriguez, Antonio Silva, Emilee Shorter, Blaine Rolen , Karla Paz, Kaliyah Ridley, Madison Maitlland, Brayden Snook
Lane Morse, Ashley Fonseca, Danika Bradley, Jesus Ruiz, Jillian Stokes, Jayda Burkett, Victoria Aguilar, Darlene Santillan-Denova and Payton Jernigan.

Some students were not present to be in the photo.

• Thursday, April 4: FSA third grade reading
• Friday, April 5: First grade Fairy Tale Day
• Monday, April 8: iReady fourth grade reading
• Tuesday, April 9: iReady fourth grade reading
• Wednesday, April 10: iReady fourth grade math; and individual and class spring photos taken
• Thursday, April 11: iReady fourth grade math
• Friday, April 12: Pop with a Cop, third quarter Warrier Strong WES Rally, and third grade trip to 480
• Monday, April 15: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing math
• Tuesday, April 16: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing math
• Wednesday, April 17: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing math
• Thursday, April 18: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing math
• Friday, April 19: No school – Good Friday
• Monday, April 22: No School
• Tuesday, April 23: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing reading
• Wednesday, April 24: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing reading
• Thursday, April 25: Kindergarten, first and second grade iReady testing reading
• Friday, April 26: Data and Donuts from 7:45 to 9 a.m., Leadership Luncheon, and Club Day at 1 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 30: April birthday celebration.

During the final week of March, eight Okeechobee students traveled to Lakelend to compete in the State Science and Engineering Fair. Our students were part of the Heartland Region, which also included 16 students from Highlands and Hardee Counties.

The State Science and Engineering Fair is the largest academic competition in the State of Florida and, this year, included over 850 projects.

During the three days in Lakeland, the students were able to set up their projects, go to the opening ceremonies, attend all-day judging, go to a mixer at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium, spend some time at a fun center, and attend the awards ceremony.

Several of our Okeechobee students received awards. These included Janessa Whidden from Osceola Middle School, who received a $50 cash award from the Hernando Region and a Special Recognition Award in the category of Biomedical and Health Sciences; Adam Moore from Yearling Middle School, who received a Special Recognition Award in the category of Intelligent Machines, Robotics and Systems Software; and John Williamson II from Yearling Middle School, who received a third place award in the category of Animal Sciences.

We are really proud of all of our students who participated and cannot wait to see their projects next year!

CLEWISTON — Eastside Elementary School (EES) would like to congratulate its honor roll students:

Kindergarten
Blake Ball, Balon Mckenna, Evelyn Espinoza, Tanya Espinoza, AnnAleah Gonzalez, Daniel Granados, Mackenzie Grimes, Sa’Jah Hamin, Joseph Jackson, Alexia Longoria, David Love, Byron Martinez, Marley Mcghie, Marvin Mendez, Angel Perez, Yoana Ramirez, Joaquin Roquett and Cor’Mello Ward.

First Grade
Kaleb Myers, Izabella Cardenas, Diego Bonilla, Reylit Garcia, Isandra Hurtado, Khalif Jones, Isabella Parodi-Castro and Adleigh Sullivan.

Second Grade
Szhani Wheeler, Juan Cordova, Elijah Massey, Gavin Smith, Fariha Emran, Aaron Zetino, Kinsli Williams, Carolina Garcia, Damien Norby and Jamar Sawyer.

Third Grade
Obdy Garcia, Valeria Hernandez, Aviana Johnson, Brayden McNeil, Beridiana Morales, Yulien Reyes, Ezdri Sanchez and Cor’Dell Ward.

Fourth Grade
Isiah Cardenas, Janelle Castro, Shelby Danielson, Farhan Emran, Andrea Hardy, Enrique Puentes and Emily Sanchez.

OKEECHOBEE — South Elementary School, 2468 S.W. Seventh Ave., has partnered with Gilbert Ford for “Drive 4 UR School”. South Elementary could earn up to $8000 for the school and its students. Come out to the school on Thursday, April 25, from 7 to 6 p.m. and take a spin in a new Ford vehicle. For every test drive taken, For Motor Company will donate money to the school. A little drive could go a long way.

During the public comment section of the Okeechobee County School Board’s monthly meeting on April 9, the board heard from Ashley Tripp, a concerned parent worried about kids getting off buses on Berman Road.

Mrs. Tripp spoke to the board to bring attention to the increased truck traffic on Berman Road and the potential for traffic accidents.

“I spoke to the board last year about the increased truck traffic, and from my experience this year it has exponentially increased,” said Mrs. Tripp. “I implore this board to bring this attention to our law enforcement. All of our roads have traffic, but we have 80,000-pound trucks on our road. I’ve heard that we have had 600 to 1,000 a day. We’ve been graced by God that there hasn’t been an incident yet.”

Mrs. Tripp has a senior attending Okeechobee High School and says she also reported coming across what she described as “crazy” truck drivers.

“Last week there was an encounter at the bus stop in front of our home,” Mrs. Tripp continued. “A bus stopped to let a young boy get on and his parents were in the driveway watching. As the boy goes to get on, a semi goes by. It never, ever stopped. My adult son happened to be out by the road at the same time and his hat flew off as the truck went by. They’re not going 50 miles per hour; we have other indicators out there that often catch them at 75.”

Mrs. Tripp also said the highest volume of trucks appears to be in the morning and afternoon, which lines up directly with the bus schedule.

Okeechobee Superintendent of Schools Ken Kenworthy reported he had reached out to Jeff Sabin at Waste Management and that Sabin confirmed that the volume of trucks had increased because of the cleaning of canals down near Miami. Mr. Sabin agreed to let the school district hand out maps to truck drivers that display the bus stops along Berman road.

“It’s also not just truck drivers, it’s all drivers,” said Mr. Kenworthy. “There’s a massive epidemic statewide of people not stopping for buses.”

Mr. Kenworthy added that Okeechobee County Sheriff Noel E. Stephen has also expressed interest in having deputies ride along with the buses.
“We need a statement that our county isn’t going to tolerate that kind of driving,” said Mrs. Tripp. “I don’t want to see a tragedy happen.”

LABELLE — West Glades School would like to congratulate its honor roll students for the third nine weeks.

A Honor Roll

Kindergarten
Macy Corbitt, Jacob Cortes, Ronnie Jo Henderson, Jacob Jones, Weston Lavender, Bryce Lynch, Kenley Roberts, Julian Ramirez, Jeremiah Branch, Elijah Murray, Avah Gonzalez, Dennis Lewis, Kimberly Trejo-Munive, Emma Meyer, Lylah Oxer, Lyneah Rua, Jesus Escobedo, Jacob Chis, Jaritza Escobedo, Jude Light, Isabella Myrtile-Pierre, Rhys Roof, Alin Villeda, Shelby Warn, Dawson Barnes, Luke Hutchinson, Hallie Matthews, Andrew Reinking, Cooper Smith and Isaac Zuniga.

First Grade
Andrea Gaytan, Cassi Hendry, Bryan Juarez-Alonso, Jace Kennedy, Cole Martin, Keira Moore, Jaiden Moreno, Timothy Santizo Soto, Theodore Caldwell, John Dupree, Rhett Fulford, Milah Gonzalez, Noah Gunn, Anderson Jones, Reina Tyson, Makenzie Kats, Bradyn Chadwick, Giovanni Cuacua, Parker Dillman, Harper Hatfield, Aubree Kersey, Ava Meyer, Alana Ross, Legend Thigpen, Alexis Casiano and Ava Hahn.

Second Grade
Brody Black, Hastin Bryant, Israel DeSantiago, Jordy Hernandez, Coy Murray, Estrella Reyes, Addison Worley, Delilah Murray, Walter Smith, Jaxon Williams, Yahaira Aguas, Aiden Gonzalez, Jacob Jordan, Colt Meyer, Charlotte Nelson, Matthew Rodriguez, Reid Sewell, Alondra Villeda-Perez and Nolan Jones.

Third Grade
Morgan Corbitt, Andrea DeSantiago, Kamdynn Lynn, Evan Romero, Gracie Spencer, Kylee Carmo, Tyler Davidson, Landra Oxer, Abbie Reinking, Blake Sewell, Scarlett Smith, Carlos Ochoa, Xantarrah Gregorio, Trinity Guerry, Victor Guzman, Ayslin Trejo-Munive, Maeley Lavender and Esbeidy Trejo-Leal.

Fourth Grade
Valerie Flores, Valeria Serrano, Julio Hernandez, Marcos Villafuerte, Elliot Cruz, Eivrynne Gregorio, Dominic Lopez, Isai Mendoza, McKenna Moore, Joshua Myrtil-Pierre, Thomas Truckenmiller, Hayne Fulford, Laeda Middleton-Lewis, Caitlin Drabant and Valerie Sandoval.

Fifth Grade
Payton Crews, Victor Pequeno, Valerie Zuniga, Emma Dyess, Heath Williams and Gabriella Williamson.

Sixth Grade
Isabella Alexander, John DeSantiago, Riley Curtis, Carli Hendry, Landon Kinney, Zaira Moreno, Alexandra Nelson and Jadiel Thompson.

Seventh Grade
Mark Abrego, Maria Gaytan, Zellistyne Gregorio, Gavin Johnson, Karla Marines, Carmen Perez and Emily Salazar.

Eighth Grade
Mikayla Lozano, Mandi Marbry, Alisah Obern and Kaydence Tindall.

A/B Honor Roll

Kindergarten
Kayden Capling, Alexia Deras, Ella Hicks, Lee Overbee, Yasmin Hijaz, Citlaly Alvarez, Melanie Lopez-Andrade, Cory Waldron, Brody Ludington, Angelique Gonzalez, Joziah Guerrero and Mark Simmons.

First Grade
Aaron Alcaraz, Gavin Jackson, Cason McCulley, Adrian Perez, Ashley Aguilar, Kaylee Dana, Fabian Lozano, Noah Sandoval, Nevaeh Tindall, Jackson Beer, Leah Cantu, Andrea Hernandez-Yesca, David Maciel, Rylan Jackson, Brystal Voorhees, Cheyenne Kats, Cam Dozier, Chloe Unkefer, Gabriella Calero, Andrea Madrid, Natalee Robbins, Hayden Platt, Ivan Gonzalez, Hannah Cruz and Alejandra Chavez.

Second Grade
Natali DeSantiago, Jaime Gomez, Fate Johnson, Jullien Lopez, Chantel Polanco, Brantley Sanders, Tristen Smith, Sadie Pelletier, Anna Orellana, Mathew Calero, Brandon Faz, Raul Martinez-Chavez, Nathan Molina, Sophia Mora-Gomez, Madison Phillips, Koby Waldron, Jayna Williamson, Angelina Flores-Ortiz, Matthew Delgado, Alabama Hellard, Aundraya Fortune, Beharry Maldonado, Keltie O’Donnell, Colton Dorn, Dakota Herrold, Ashlynn Summeralls, Sierra Townsend and Greyson Light.

Third Grade
Kimberlyn Barrios, Brent Burnside, Dylan Dupree, Nathanlin Garcia-Otero, Besan Mustafa, Brock Williams, Dakota Derrick, Allison DeSantiago, Angelina Gallegos, Reese Tyson, Armani Perez-Johnson, Carlos Aguilar, Donald Berden, Aundrea Gomez, Juan Molina-Hernandez, Reese Pool, Emma Reinking, Julissa Deras, Cora Dorn , Caleb Gonzalez, Aislin Moore, Josivan MoralesHidalgo, Valentina Pegueros and Gwyneth Williamson.

Fourth Grade
Micah Ross, Julio Flores, David Lopez, Brandon Herrold, Edward Hernandez-Cruz, Jadon Santiago, Kaison Romero, Brody Barnes, Kelsey Briggs, David Chis, Analy Guerra, Ty Holt, Haylee Kats, Clayton Lynch, Daysi Martinez, Damaris Perez, Charles Obern, Avery Perkins, Angel Reyes, Natalie Zuniga, Perla Guzman, Alexsander Jimenez-Chavez, Ahlai Chavez-Villeda, Troy Urbanowski and Sarai Guerra.

Fifth Grade
Aleida Aguirre, David Brana, Hailey Crumb, Joellen Erskin, Zael Moreno, Julian Razo, Teagan Dobson, Neri Mendez, Christopher Santiago, Paytton Gunn, Kazandra Gasper, Neveah Jones, Tylee Jones, Kylie Murawski, Jasmine Noguez, Venus Pegueros, Joanna Ochoa , Erik Juarez, Karen Barrios-Lopez, Stephanie Pereyra , Reston Stokes, Daisy Flores, Josue Cervantes, Ashley Cruz, Evelyn Garcia, Oscar Hernandez, Merary Penate and Deyde Trejo.

Sixth Grade
Logan Alexander, Emorie Anderson, Jacob Anderson, Brooke Black, Beau Collier, Jason Cox, Jennalyn Davidson, Elena Deras, Jack Dillman, Gavin Gonzalez, Jayden Gutierrez, Abigail Hicks, Kaelyn Murray, Ty Murray, Uriel Orduna, Tate Oxer, Yareli Perez, Omar Sanchez, AnaKaren Sandoval, Lawton Thigpen, Shana Townsend and Gaven Whidden.

Seventh Grade
Aliya Alaniz, Brady Bass, Leo Bautista, Brilyn Capling, Estrella Casiano, Stephanie DeSantiago, Natalie Guzman , Mackenzie Herrera, Hanna Herrold, Alana Kelley, Vanessa Marcotte, Monica Martinez-Chavez, Mia Pegueros, Brylee Perkins, Jackelline Ramirez, Ryan Rodriguez, Rylan Sanders, Rolando Sandoval, Nicolas Santiago, Araceli Villeda, Brenann White, Grace Williamson and Hannah Yohnke.

Eighth Grade
David Davis, John Davis, Angeleigh Diaz, Joshua Green, Madison Kinney, Sandi Marbry, Jorge Mendoza, Juan Carlos Patricio, Destinee Perez, Daniel Reyes, Lesly Serrano and Luis Villeda.

A group of West Glades Jr. Beta Club students traveled to Jekyll Island, Ga., to participate and compete in the student leadership summit. The students gained knowledge of leadership roles and responsibilities, as well as the importance of teamwork. The summit hosted guest speakers Harriet Turk and Phil Boyte, who offered lessons in stepping up and becoming a leader.

Following the session, the students competed in the “Rapid Response” and “Lead Outside the Box” Competitions along with many other schools. West Glades students did an outstanding job and qualified to compete in both events at nationals this summer, which will be held in Oklahoma City, Okla. WGS Jr. Beta team members are Brooke Collins, Riley Curtis, Landon Kinney, Madison Kinney and Carmen Perez. Congratulations on a job well done!

Team members were also encouraged to apply to be a state leadership representative. The application process included completing an interview and working collaboratively with a group of students from other schools. Carmen Perez attended the workshop and completed the interview process and was selected as one of three state leadership representatives. Along with having an all-expense paid trip to the National Jr. Beta Club leadership camp held this summer in Greeneville, Tenn., this also qualifies her to run for a national leadership title. Good luck, Carmen!

LABELLE — West Glades School has finished the Sunshine State reading contest and has its final groups of readers. Students who read ten or more books will be traveling to Fort Myers in a limo party bus on May 22 to go to Chuck E Cheese, and the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. Additionally, each time a student completed a book, he/she was entered into a drawing for a $25 Walmart gift card. Two winners were drawn on April 12 and the lucky students were Samuel Salazar and Karla Marines. Thanks to Florida Power and Light funding through the Glades Education Foundation that provided our Sunshine State books this year.

The Citizens of the Month for kindergarten through second grade, in no particular order, are: Bryce Lynch, Tristan Steller, Luke Hutchinson, Fabian Lozano, Hannah Cruz, Legend Thigpen, Timothy Santizo, Mathew Calero, Jordy Hernandez, Steven Santiago, Reid Sewell and Emma Meyer who is not pictured.

The Citizens of the Month for third through fifth grade, in no particular order, are: Caleb Gonzalez, Blake Sewell, Karen Barrios-Lopez, Christopher Santiago, Micah Ross and Eivrynne Gregorio.

The Citizens of the Month for sixth through eighth grade, in no particular order, are: John Cruz, Melina Villeda, Karla Marines, Rylan Sanders, Thomas Saxon and Lesly Serrano.

PAHOKEE — The Pahokee Middle School Band broke the record books this past week at Solo and Ensemble Music Performance Assessment Festival.

For the first time in the history of Pahokee Middle High School, band director Alain Goindoo took a middle school ensemble to compete in Concert Band MPA and Solo and Ensemble MPA. At Concert Band MPA, the middle school band brought home an excellent rating, which is an extremely rare occurrence for a first-year band to achieve.

At Solo and Ensemble MPA, the middle school band students won 20 superior medals and two excellent medals out of their 20 students! Superior is the highest rating achievable, and excellent is the second highest.

Mr. Goindoo remarked, “I am extremely proud of the hard work and effort these students have put into becoming champions.” Mr. Goindoo also said, “I am excited to see the students continue to grow and represent Pahokee with our best foot forward.”

The Pahokee Middle High School Band is grateful for the community’s support, as well as its sponsors for making this opportunity possible. A special thank-you goes to Celeste Daiagi, The Palm Beach Symphony, Jazz Path, and the Jupiter Jazz and Performing Arts Society for providing food, registration, accompanists, and transportation for every student.

For more information about the Pahokee Middle High School Band, please contact Alain Goindoo at 561-924-6540 or alain.goindoo@palmbeachschools.org.

• Monday, May 3, PreK Dolly Hand
• Tuesday, May 14-17, Ambassador and Safety Patrol Trip
• Wednesday, May 15-19, Career Day classroom presentations
• Wednesday, May 15, PTO/SAC from 5 to 6 p.m.
• Thursday, May 16, Vehicle Day
• Friday, May 17. Career Dress Up Day
• May 17-19, Reading Counts Ceremony
• Tuesday, May 21, Pre-K Graduation
• Wednesday, May 22, English Spelling Bee
• Thursday, May 23, Second grade tutorial ends
• Thursday, May 23, Kindergarten Send-Off Program; and fifth Summer Slide Book Distribution, and wear green to support mental health
• Friday, May 24, Special Graduation
• Monday, May 27, Memorial Day/No School
• Tuesday, May 28-29, K-2 Summer Slide Book Distribution
• Wednesday, May 29, Fifth and sixth grade bash
• Thursday, May 30, Sixth grade behavior trip to Magic Kingdom
• Friday, May 31, Kindergaren through sixth grade award ceremony; Kindergarten through sixth grades report cards go home; and the last day of school.
Testing Dates
• May 1-2, fourth through sixth grade ELA
• May 7-8, third and sixth grade math
• May 9-10, fifth grade science

CLEWISTON — On Thursday, April 18, staff from U.S. Sugar and Southern Gardens had an afternoon of science with a group of students at the Florida B. Thomas Library. The students made a tornado in a bottle and lava lamps.

Through these experiments, the group learned that air takes up space, what a vortex is and how it relates to a real tornado. The students placed glitter in the tornadoes to see where objects in a vortex will go. Afterward, the group each made lava lamps in tubes while learning about density as they watched a gas rise through water and oil. They also learned about what color is produced when different colors are mixed. Each child then got to chew a piece of sugarcane to taste the sweet juice that it produces.

Everyone got to take home their lava lamp and their “Tornado Tube.” as well as information about sugarcane so they could share their experiences with their families.

BELLE GLADE — Gove Elementary School is ready for the incoming kindergarten students! Gove had its Kindergarten Round-Up on April 24, and it was a big success. There were many parents in attendance, and many students were preregistered as a result. Twenty of those students are from Gove’s prekindergarten class, which means Gove is growing its own students! A very special thanks to the prekindergarten teachers, Ms. Blanco, Mrs. Villavicencia and Mrs. Menendez, for their GREAT support!

The leadership team members did an outstanding job with presenting information at five different centers (reading, writing, science, math and social studies). We had three awesome parent volunteers that assisted the presenters by translating in Spanish, Ms. Porras, Ms. Shanta, Ms. Romero as well as Gove’s foster grandmother, Clara Carrazana. It was a very enjoyable event where parents practiced the activities presented, and then received kindergarten readiness activities for the upcoming year.

All parents that attended and preregistered their child for the 2019-2020 school year received a book bag with more kindergarten readiness supplies.

If you were unable to attend Kindergarten Round-Up, preregistration continues every day from 8 to 10:30 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m., in the front office with our school data processor, Ms. Nava. Once a student is preregistered, they will receive a new a book bag.

Also, Gove is accepting late Choice Program applications for kindergarten students that do not live in the Gove assigned area (SAC). If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to call Mrs. Lopez at 561-993-8731 to set up an appointment.

BELLE GLADE — Crossroads Academy (CA) has announced their Principal A Team, all A and B students and B.U.G. Awards students for the third term of the 2018/2019 school year.

Principal A Team
Daniel Castillo
Principal A/B Team
A/B
Jose Ascencio, Ken’trail Baker, Delroy Brock, Wayne Cameron, Issac Carswell, Kelvin Clark, James Davis, Jeremy Everett, Camon Humphrey, Larryun Johnson, Brittny Martinez, Jourdan Matias, Pablo Palacios, Jamiyah Patterson, An’tajah Richards, Carlos Venegas, Artavia Warren and Dar’niyah Willingham.

B.U.G. Awards
Angel Arellano, Jahiem Brown, Ferrell Bowie, Jim’terria Davis, Frantz Faustin, Ebony Graves, Cedric Harris, Artavious Kelly, Ta’nayasia Mccall, Lamarcus Mckay, Tyrone Miles, James Michel, Victor Ramos, Freddie Smith, Keanti Wilcher, Timoris Williams and Macquavious Williams.

BELLE GLADE — Even though Green School Coordinator Ellen Smith was out of town, Gove Elementary School staff still made efforts to keep up their “Ribbon School” status for next year.

Ms. Smith plans to retire this year, “and the team leader that has replaced me was overloaded. But we wanted you to see the efforts of our school in the name of green and Earth Day!”

Along with planned events for the observation involving every grade, she said on April 17, “We are doing a color walk next Friday to celebrate and have the students walk the campus to recycle, pick up litter and observe all the wonders in green that we are developing around our campus.”

The school is a Green Ribbon School for 2018 that also just received notice it’s earned the recognition for another year.

Gove Elementary School’s Earth Day Project for 2019 included these activities:

Pre-K: Recycle the Rainbow — Students are collecting used and broken crayons and sending them to a company that makes new crayons out of the old ones.

Kindergarten: They’re building birdbaths and feeders.

First grade: These kids are putting together an “outdoor classroom (green furniture).”

Second: Children are making bird feeders.

Third: Classes are studying and placing air plants.

Fourth: These students are doing Crayola marker recycling.

Fifth: Recycle Rangers are collecting recycling bins and weighing them in and out to graph how much recycling Gove is doing. They will then analyze the data and offer suggestions to increase recycling and decrease waste, as necessary.

Sixth: Making planters (juice boxes) — sixth-grade classes recycled juice boxes from the afternoon snack time to create beginning planters for various plants and vegetables.

Fine Arts: Students made a display of a quilt with photos of projects.

Ms. Smith said were notified by email Tuesday, April 16, from Lauren Butcher of Florida Atlantic University on their renewed status.

It read, in part: Congratulations from the Green Schools Recognition Program! Gove Elementary has maintained its status as a 2019 Green School of Excellence! Thank you for continuing to be a model of environmental stewardship and sustainability for Palm Beach and Martin County schools.”

It went on to alert the school’s representative and team to an honors luncheon: “To celebrate your school’s ongoing commitment to being green, we invite you and your team to attend the 2019 Green Schools Awards on Thursday, May 16, from 8:30 a.m. to noon.”

That event will be at FAU’s Carole and Barry Kaye Auditorium and Live Oak Pavilion (777 Glades Road, Boca Raton). Each school is allowed to bring up to 10 representatives. There, Gove will receive its 2019 Green Schools Recognition Program banner and certificate. The message went on:

“Our Master of Ceremonies will recognize our schools’ many green accomplishments and announce this year’s special awards: over 20 Judges’ Choice Awards, Green Principal, Teacher, Student, and Facilities & Food Service Staff of the Year Awards, and the Top Green Schools of 2019!”
School must be registered to attend by Monday, May 6.

Chris Felker can be reached at cfelker@newszap.com.

CLEWISTON — Thirty Clewiston High School seniors who participated in the Collegiate Academy (CA) received their associate’s degrees last weekend in Fort Myers, even before they officially graduate from CHS next week. That’s because those young men and women participated in the Collegiate Academy through a dual enrollment program at CHS and make up the CA’s first graduating class.

These 30 students have a better idea where they’ll be going and what they’ll be doing after high school graduation than their cohorts do. (That has to relieve a lot of anxiety along the way.) No, these kids worked extra hard for the past several years to earn something vastly better than a leg up on their competition — they’ve got a flying start on life.

Jose Roquett is director of the Collegiate Academy, and he explained how this “tremendous opportunity” works, what it does for the students and further future plans for the academy’s offerings.

Multiple benefits to kids, parents, community
“It is a new development, the state colleges working with students to get their associates degrees, their AAs,” he said. “We’re particularly lucky because on the coast, students end up having to go to college campuses in order to be able to participate or get the most out of the program. Here, for us, we actually can include CHS students on campus; 11th and 12th graders are the ones that are able to participate. They become full-time dual enrollment students, which means they’re taking college classes — they’re earning both high school and college credits — and, by the end of their high school senior year, they’re eligible to complete … their two-year college degree.”

Mr. Roquett was direct and fired up about just how much this means to Hendry County students. “So this year, we have, in our inaugural class, 30 students benefiting from our program, getting AAs — saving them each easily $10,000 in tuition over the two years, and textbooks. This is savings that are going to their parents, to the community; and this is the Hendry County School Board, the school district, actually paying for the school cost, the textbook costs. So really, we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Mr. (Paul) Puletti, our superintendent, for developing and creating this program with FSW (Florida SouthWestern State College) administrators, and to Mr. Puletti and the board for continuing to invest in a strategy that is very costly for the school district.”

And these students in their last two years of high school are seeing the benefits:
“This year and last year, we’ve had students graduate and be accepted at universities across the state — UF, Polytechnic, FSU, UCF, USF, FGCU, FAU, FIU. Our students are able to benefit from participating in athletics. In fact, not only do they participate in athletics; it’s a college schedule, the way that our kids go to school. Just like any other college schedule, they could have each class two days a week for an hour and 20 minutes each day, and for the rest of the week they’re open during that time slot. Our students have a total of five classes. They end up having about 10 to 12 hours of open time during the school day where they spend in the library doing homework, getting assignments done (for our athletes’ benefit)…”

Pipeline starts in soph year
Recruiting starts early.
“What we do is, ninth and 10th graders, we are preparing them to try to become a member of the CA. Students need a 3.0 GPA, and they need college-ready scores on the PERT Math, Reading and Writing (exams). The PERT stands for Post-secondary Education Readiness Test. It’s what colleges use to figure out how much a student knows,” Mr. Roquett explained.

And it’s attracting the hardest-working, brightest kids, he said.
“So for our freshmen at the end of the year — this is coming up on May 17 — all of my freshmen with a 3.5 GPA or so, or better, I give them the PERT tests to give them a chance to qualify. Usually from this first group, very easily I get 12 or 13 students that already qualify as freshmen to participate in the Collegiate Academy.

“Then during their sophomore year, I test sophomores and juniors with a 3.0 GPA. I test them quarterly, and that’s how by the end of their sophomore year, we have … this inaugural class of 30. Right now, we actually have 34 students, sophomores, qualified and signed up to participate in the CA next year; we actually have about 16 or 17 other sophomores who have a 3.0 GPA and have already passed two of the tests, so they’re working really hard to qualify by passing this last test. If they’re able to qualify, we have the potential of having a class of 50!”

And plans are in the works to further expand this program.

“A couple of months ago, our program actually extended the benefits and we struck up a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, FGCU, so every single Clewiston High School senior who graduates with his or her associates degree and earns at least a 3.0 GPA is also automatically awarded a $5,000-per-year, three-year scholarship to FGCU to finish their bachelor’s degree. That’s a total there, in addition to the FSW scholarship, a $15,000 scholarship to FGCU. So the benefits of the program only continue. That means that, every year, 30 CHS seniors can have almost their full college paid for, really a cost easily of about $25,000…”

But life doesn’t get suddenly different for students in the CA.

“From 10th to 11th grade, nothing changes for our students,” Mr. Roquett said. “They come to the same school they’ve been going to, some ride the bus, some drive, some take rides with friends, with the same friends, they have the same lunch, they participate in all of our events, and all of our events, just as everyone else is, except they’re earning college credits in addition to their high school credits.”

There are other benefits to the CA program besides the AA degrees and the scholarships. The college study habits instilled have provided a great boost in student performance.

“Last semester,” said Mr. Roquett, “CHS students earned 1,267 college credits. Of those, 83% of students’ grades were As and Bs, and 49% were As, so the overall GPA was 3.38, unweighted — very strong. Even better, our first semester ever, our students earned a 3.54 GPA, it was the highest amongst all of FSW’s cohorts. They have some collegiate high schools on their campuses, and those students, in fact one of those campuses was ranked in the top ten of high schools in the state of Florida. Our students outperformed those students in our very first semester. So our students are hanging tough with the best students in the state.

Assistance with this article from Nicole Reid, news director of WAFC-FM in Clewiston, is gratefully acknowledged.

Chris Felker can be reached at cfelker@newszap.com.