Student Spotlights July 21

Every month we compile a list of students and schools doing great things across our community.  We have so many talented students in our area.  Greater Pensacola Parents joins with these families and schools to celebrate their achievements!

East Hill Christian School held its annual end of the year Middle and High School Awards Ceremony this May. It was a record high year in which awards were earned by hard-working students. Among some of the awards were Highest GPA, Christian Character Award and Honor Roll.

Sherwood Elementary held a school transformation day at the end of the year. Students were inspired by the “Rock Your School Day” idea they learned about during the “Get Your Teach On” conference. The entire school participated in STEM activities to solve the mysterious disappearance of Mrs. Quick. The day was given the code name: AIM – Archer Impossible Mission. See if you can spot Mrs. Quick!

Workman Middle School was recently able to host its first orchestra/band concert of the 2020-21 school year and included a bonus pop-up art show. Thank you to Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Friedrich and Mrs. Elzweig for your dedication to turning out such a special event. #WorkmanWorks

Coastline Christian Academy students enjoy working hands-on in science class.

Coastline Christian Academy held an “election” to teach the children about the voting process.

On May 11, Pensacola Sports hosted its annual banquet for senior scholar-athletes. Each year, scholar-athletes in each sport from Escambia and Santa Rosa county high schools are invited to the recognition program. This year the following students from Pensacola Catholic High School were invited to represent their sport: Front row, Mr. Ray Palmer (Pensacola Sports), Russell Young (cross country), Allysa Parungao (girls’ track), Lacie Day (softball), Allison Sweeney (girls’ golf), Paul Snyder (boys’ weightlifting) and Kinsey King (girls’ basketball); back row, Jackson Hamrick (soccer), Dolan Marcelonis (boys’ track), Emily Young (cheerleading), Jordan McCants (baseball), Nicole Hoppe (girls’ soccer), Regan Howard (volleyball), Maxwell Page (boys’ golf), Austin Burkett (boys’ basketball) and Nicolas Wehrenberg (boys’ lacrosse). Not pictured: Jack Langston (football), Darcy Sullivan (girls’ lacrosse) and Lauren Garrett (girls’ swimming).

Jordan McCants was named the Overall Male Scholar Athlete from all the schools who entered athletes from both counties! He was not able to attend the banquet as he was away with his team competing in post-season play. However, Mr. Ray Palmer with Pensacola Sports came to campus on May 18 to present McCants with his award and his $4,000 scholarship check.

Pensacola State College also awarded the following CHS scholar-athletes with a one-year renewable $1,000 scholarship: Kinsey King, Maxwell Page and Jackson Hamrick.

Student artist Scarlett Coffey’s work was selected by ECSD’s Superintendent Tim Smith as this year’s Bright Images’ Superintendent’s Choice. Her art has been framed and will be on display on the 4th floor of the McDaniels Building. Past winners’ art can be seen in the hallway outside of Room 160 in the J.E. Hall Center. Coffey’s instructor is Tanya Broom at Booker T. Washington High School.

The ice cream cart made its way around Sherwood Elementary with a very special treat for all of the school’s top accelerated readers. Thank you to Mrs. Wyrick and Ms. Barnes for encouraging students to read and for making them feel so special!

Escambia County Superintendent Tim Smith announced the appointment of Saraya Miller as the incoming principal for Pensacola High School during the May School Board meeting.

The Escambia County School District Social Studies Department, in conjunction with the Escambia Area Council for Social Studies, recognizes the following teachers, from top to bottom, as ECSD’s Social Studies Teachers of the Year: Gary Horne, Booker T. Washington High School; Jeff McCaskill, Jim Bailey Middle School; and Melissa Hardesty, Sherwood Elementary.

Montessori School of Pensacola has a tradition of scheduling various “Fun Days” throughout the year. Before school ended, students got to wear their hair in fun ways to school. Here is a Primary classroom student showing off his fun hairdo!

East Hill Christian School honored its elementary students with an end of the year awards ceremony. Numerous awards were given, including Honor Roll, Christian character awards and promotion certificates for 5th grade. A special prayer of dedication was given for the 5th-graders along with a presentation of a personalized, engraved Bible.

East Hill Christian School saw its largest graduating class since 2008 at its 2021 commencement ceremony. Like its counterparts, the Class of 2021 had an unusual and challenging academic year; however, with dedication, flexibility and understanding, students rose to the challenge and completed the year with success. Along with recognition of the graduating class comes the heartfelt appreciation to teachers and staff who helped the Class of 2021 reach this milestone. It was not an easy year, but their dedication to the students ensured that they would be successful and make it to graduation day!

C.A. Weis Elementary was recently awarded an Innovation in Education Grant by Cox Charities. This honor is funded and chosen by Cox Communications employees. C.A. Weis will use the funds to purchase Lego WeDo kits. Students are going to have a great time learning how to build and program robots!

A HUGE shout-out to our Media Specialist Mrs. Kemp for always seeking out and writing grants to bring innovative experiences to our kids. We love and appreciate all that you do for our school!

Aletheia Christian Academy held its graduation commencement for the Class of 2021 on Friday, May 28. Thirteen seniors were honored that evening as Will Mitchell and Caela Sloan were named valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. The evening was full of laughter and tears, videos of seniors thanking their families, and the senior class singing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, along with many other memories being made.

Sean Harnas from Freedom Church shared a message of encouragement to the seniors and parents. The event concluded with a beautiful “Carry The Light” finale between the senior and junior classes. Congratulations to the Class of 2021 for an amazing year and we pray God’s blessings over each of them moving forward.

On June 3, Pensacola Catholic High School held its traditional annual Senior Academic Awards Ceremony at which the accomplishments of the Senior Class were celebrated with students, parents and faculty. This night is filled with honoring students for their academic achievements, as well as recognizing those who excelled at citizenship and serving others. We also recognized one student, Beyonce White, for perfect attendance, and what an accomplishment in this unprecedented year we have had! Joseph Baroco was recognized for his designation of being a National Merit Commended student, placing among the top five percent or higher of the 1.5 million students who were assessed.

A summary of other achievements of the Class of 2021 include: 97% of the class of 139 students plan to pursue post-secondary education with 88 students receiving at least one merit-based scholarship. Four members of the class signed athletic scholarships and 43 students were designated Florida Bright Futures Scholars. The total amount of merit-based scholarships offered to members of the Class of 2021 now exceeds $16 million. The top 10 graduates based on GPA are valedictorian Joseph Baroco, salutatorian Olivia McCrory, Niamh Kennedy, Ian McCormick, Zachary Foland and Clayton Myers (tied for fifth), Catherine Bowersox, Paul Snyder, Abigail Asmar and Maxwell Page.

Montessori School of Pensacola’s 7th- and 8th-graders took an exciting and educational sleepover trip to Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The students canoed one day and on another got to boat aboard their research vessel, Alabama Discovery. They collected and identified animals in the waters of Alabama’s coast.

The students also learned about saltmarsh ecology, took part in hands-on experiments with plankton, and built and tested remotely operated vehicles (ROVS). Despite the fact that Covid restrictions made their trip to the Florida Keys Sea Camp not possible, the students were overjoyed to be able to travel to Dauphin Island and stay overnight, taking part in so many fun and enriching activities.

Each spring, Pensacola Catholic High School names a new group of upcoming sophomore students to join fellow upperclassmen who had been previously named to serve as a collective group of Student Ambassadors. Those who will serve for the 2021-2022 school year will help to celebrate 15 years of tradition for this group at CHS.

Originally begun in 2006 under the initiation, guidance and direction of Principal, Sister Kierstin Martin, and the group’s first moderator, Jessica Browning, the group was formed to provide vital functions to be the voice, eyes, hand, and ears of CHS for the many visitors that grace the campus each year. Ambassadors assist at both private and public functions that are held on campus including annual Eighth Grade Visitation Days, Prospective Student/Parent Open House, New Student Orientation, and various other special events. Students are nominated by faculty members and selected through a vetting process among the administrators. Students are selected across the wide range of diverse talents and abilities that they possess with the intent that they represent the entire CHS student body. For the past 10 years, the moderator of the CHS Student Ambassadors has been math teacher and Math Department Chair Maria Green.

Montessori School of Pensacola congratulates its 2021 eighth-grade graduates. Twelve graduating students will be entering area high schools this fall. The school recognizes how difficult this pandemic year has been for these students and how their final year at MSP has been very different. Amidst the challenges, the students persevered and remained positive! Graduates of MSP are academically prepared, globally aware, able to resolve conflict peacefully, intrinsically motivated, creative thinkers, independent, confident, respectful, service-minded citizens.

Aletheia Christian Academy held its annual Flapjack 5K event June 5. There were more than 260 registrations and about $12,000 was raised for future school improvements.This event was delayed from the original date of April 10, but there was great energy, many smiles and much laughter shared that morning. The weather was much warmer than usual, but the participants did an amazing job completing the course. Next year, this event will be held Saturday, April 9, at 8 a.m.

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This year the 7th-grade class from Creative Learning Academy embarked on a new challenge by creating a podcast in which students interview impactful people in the Pensacola community. Students and listeners can learn about the importance of oral histories and help preserve our shared history. The Pensacola People’s Podcast interviews include Mayor Grover Robinson, WEAR news anchor Sue Straughn and Rick Outzen, publisher and owner of Pensacola Inweekly, among many others.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to be a part of a Super Bowl Championship team, feel passionate about our climate and well-being of wildlife, or dreamt of being stranded on an island hoping to win a million dollars, this podcast is for you! From contacting and scheduling the interviewees, to researching and coming up with questions, to learning to react and carry on an active discussion and write thank-you notes, the students have gained an array of new skills that they will use throughout their educational career and beyond.

“It has been so exciting to do these interviews throughout the school year. I feel like we’re getting to talk to celebrities and share their stories with our school and community,” said one student.

“We’re so proud of the progress that the students have made from the first podcast to now. Their communication skills have improved greatly as well as their confidence when speaking to adults and community leaders,” said Middle School history teacher Amy Parker. Tune in wherever you prefer to listen to your favorite podcasts.