Student Spotlights November 2022

Bay Minette Elementary School coaches have been working with students on the fundamentals of flag football. To close out the this nine-weeks of school, the P.E. classes held the first round of play-offs.

Congratulations to our BCS volleyball team for winning the Class 2A, Area 1 Championship in October! We are so proud of our Lady Eagles!

Bayside Academy has had four students named 1A–5A Runners of the Week by the Mobile Optimist Club in the last month. Senior Ty Postle and sophomore Annie Midyett were honored on September 22, sophomore Catherine Doyle was honored on September 29, and senior John Thomas Neill was honored on October 6.

Annie posted a seasonal best time of 19:45 at the Southern Showcase, finishing sixth in the Blue division. She helped lead Bayside’s young women to a third-place finish overall out of 51 scoring teams. At Southern Showcase, Ty also ran a seasonal best time of 16:30, just one second off of his personal best. He finished ninth overall in the Blue division, where Bayside’s young men finished 14th overall out of 57 scoring teams.

Catherine had a breakout performance at the Daphne Invite, winning a cross country race for the first time since her 8th grade year. Her 5K time of 19:03 is the second fastest in school history and ranks her 19th in the state of Alabama regardless of classification.

JT finished as Bayside’s top runner at the Jesse Owens Classic with a time of 16:50, tying him for fifth overall in school history or a 5K time. He is Bayside’s third young man to post a sub-17:00 5K time this season.

Picture 1: Bayside Academy sophomore Annie Midyett, Cross Country Coach Joe Swagart, and senior Ty Postle at the Mobile Optimist Club luncheon on Thursday, September 22.

Picture 2: Bayside Academy sophomore Catherine Doyle and Cross Country Coach Joe Swagart at the Mobile Optimist Club luncheon on Thursday, September 29.

Picture 3: Bayside Academy Cross Country Coach Joe Swagart and senior JT Neill at the Mobile Optimist Club luncheon on Thursday, October 6.

These CTKCS teachers traveled to the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta for a day of professional development. Teachers explored new techniques for student engagement, promoting academic excellence, building meaningful relationships with families and students, and how important multisensory learning is key in a classroom. These teachers are busy infusing their classrooms with the knowledge they gained from the experience!

Mya Riley was named Miss AWAG 2022 at the 26th annual event held Sept. 24 at Coastal Alabama Community College. The “Shining Stars” pageant is sponsored by the Area Women Action Group.
Mya is a senior at Baldwin County High School where she serves as senior class secretary and a member of the Beta Chi Sigma. Rounding out the top five included Haley Fancher, Daphne High, first runner-up; TreKerria Smith, BCHS, second runner-up; Jaelyn Gray, BCHS, third runner-up; and Trinity Walton, Daphne High, fourth runner-up.
Participants competed in several categories both on and off the stage including physical fitness, casual wear, talent and performing arts, and evening wear.
Preliminary awards were presented to: Most Spirit, TreKerria Smith; Eagle Award, Mya Riley; Shining Star, Trinity Walton; Horizon Award, Jayla Poque; Scholastic Achievement, Jaelyn Gray; Tickets & Presence, Trinity Walton; Ads & Publishing, TreKerria Smith and Jamiria Ikner, Shredick Hardy Memorial, TreKerria Smith; Beatrice Lyons Memorial, Jamiria Ikner; Mary H. Cox Memorial, Jaelyn Gray; Heritage Women’s Club, Haley Fancher; Sabra Simmons Honorary Founder’s Scholarship, TreKerria Smith; Coastal Alabama Community College, Jaelyn Gray.
AWAG Member Phyllis French was presented the “Extra Mile Award”.

BCS students gathered in prayer on the international event See You At The Pole in September. Students lead the school in song, then prayed over their beloved school, teachers, parents, ESPC community, city, state, and country! We praise God for the opportunity to worship Him!

Congratulations to the GSMS art students that placed in the 2022 Baldwin County Fair Art contest! Phoenix Wallace– 1st place; Copeland Bender– 1st place; Faith Mitchum– 1st place; Victor MuCarbel– 1st place; Monserrat Gomez– 1st place; Ambria Hagen– 2nd place; Mylie Lima– 2nd place; Red Diamante– 3rd place; Liliana Grandy– 3rd place; Kinsley Kelley– 3rd place; Jayden Dennis– 3rd place; Fiona Douglas– 3rd place; Cali Nelson– 3rd place; *not pictured: Copeland Bender

The Christ the King Catholic Science Club met for an adventure to May Day park to do some sampling. A few seniors from St. Michael Catholic High School helped the middle school students to throw a cast net and pull a seine net through the water. They also used instrumentation to check salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH, and things like wind speed, humidity, and temperature. They were even able to collect some organisms for their classroom Bay Tank. Such a successful trip for these students!

On Saturday, October 8, the St. Michael High School Model United Nations team hosted its 4th Annual Spring Cardinal Model UN Conference with each of the committees covering a different aspect of the Russia-Ukraine war. This year, the conference had 128 students participating from throughout the state. Impressively, in the past two years, Bayside Academy delegates have won four awards at the Spring Cardinal Model UN Conferences.

A special congratulations goes out to senior Kai McCullins; sophomores Elin Backman, Courtney Baker, Adriane Clemens, Sophia Haines, Caroline Marron, and Virginia McCrory; freshmen Brody Gwaltney and Evan Stafford; and 8th graders Nate Bullock and Sebastian Winstead. All of our delegates represented Bayside well. Kai McCullins was recognized during the closing ceremony and received Honorable Mention awards for Best Delegate!

Pictured: Bayside Academy’s Model UN group. Front row: Mr. Glen Farquhar, Caroline Marron, Sophia Haines, Courtney Baker, Adriane Clemens, Virginia McCrory, Mrs. Liz Mulligan. Back row: Elin Backman, Sebastian Winstead, Nate Bullock, Kai McCullins.

BCS would like to thank Mrs. Lisa Bishop from WoodmenLife for donating a beautiful new flag pole & American flag! And thank you to our BCS students that helped put it in.

Middle school students at Baldwin County Virtual Elementary/Middle School had a blast participating in hands-on aviation and sublimation activities during their trip to Flight Works Alabama!

Fourth graders at Fairhope East created maps of Alabama’s regions using cookies and frosting! That’s what we call creative cookie cartography!

After winning first place in the K–1st grade division of the Baldwin County Soil and Water Conservation District Poster Contest, Bayside then-kindergartener Haya Idriss went on to win first place in both the area competition (encompassing 10 other districts in southwest Alabama) and the state competition. Now in first grade, Haya is moving on to the national competition! The theme was “Healthy Soil, Healthy Life.”

Bayside Academy Director of College Counseling Emerita Mary Ann Willis was awarded the Gayle C. Wilson Service to Education Award by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).

According to NACAC, “The Gayle C. Wilson Service to Education Award was named for a fine and outstanding leader who devoted their life to counseling and assisting students in attaining their educational goals. The Wilson Award is presented to NACAC members who, over a period of years, have performed outstanding service to [their] profession.”

Mrs. Willis spent nearly five decades in education, including 25 years at Bayside Academy. She has served on numerous college and education advisory boards, has published articles on admissions-related topics, presented at national conferences, and serves on the advisory board of College Bound News.

Thank you Dr. Amy McCoy and Dr. Brooke Lenz at Coastal OB/GYN for allowing NBCT Health Science students to visit and observe at your facility. Creating tomorrow’s workforce today!

Congratulations to the Knights of Columbus Student of the Month winners at Christ the King Catholic School! These students exceed expectations and are inspirational to other students. They display character through compassion, honesty, trustworthiness, optimism, and responsibility. Both students represent Christ the King Catholic School in an exemplary manner and we could not be more proud of them! The awards were presented by Brother Knight Joseph Buschell along with Principal Jackie Garlock. Fantastic job Saints!

Students in Mrs. Farias’ ELL classes at Silverhill Elementary School celebrated Hispanic Heritage by making mosaics, weaving, and a huge research project!
For the project, 4th-6th graders researched countries where Spanish was one of their languages. Students were randomly put into groups, and countries were randomly selected. They were provided a guideline that included finding out the selected country’s flag and its meaning, a specific type of food (and what it was), interesting facts, the most recent census country’s population, and a famous person. Students shared their findings (and pictures) on our Google Classroom and kept track of their projects by using a checklist. We created an “interview” with the country’s famous person and students took turns interviewing and being interviewed in English and/or Spanish. The interview was recorded using vocaroo. The link generated was used to create a QR code – which was attached to the students’ Tri-folds for parents to listen to during our Open House.
Projects were on display at our library. Thank you teachers for letting me pull students at random times! Thank you Rachel Vaughn for your patience, as we were a bit loud at times! Students could not be more proud!

We are so proud of Dr. Stacey Frye! She recently defended her dissertation and earned her PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Congratulations to the 2022 Homecoming King and Queen, Jonah Leisenring and Emily Tucker!

Students in Mrs. L’s class at Florence B Mathis Elementary School has been learning all about bats!

Gifted teachers from Baldwin County Public Schools attended the Alabama Association for Gifted Children conference, October 12-14 in Birmingham. The Teachers learned new techniques and skills to bring back to their classrooms.
(First photo) Team gifted from Baldwin County Public Schools.
(Second photo) Representing Baldwin County Public Schools were: Kathy Nichol, Supervisor of Gifted Education, Kim Nolfe Gifted Specialist Daphne East Elementary School , and Mrs. Tina Dillen, Gifted Specialist Stonebridge Elementary.
Also pictured is Representative Matt Simpson, Alabama House District 96.

3rd graders at Fairhope West Elementary enjoyed operating on sentences. Learning can be lots of fun!

Thank you parents for attending Florence B Mathis Elementary School’s first annual student-led conferences tonight! The students did a great job presenting all the things they’ve been learning

4th grade students in Mrs. Dees’ class at Foley Elementary School started their study of division by diving into an Oreo cookie word problem. Students worked together to solve the problem and celebrated their success by eating cookies.

Tim Daniels’ 8th Grade Science at Spanish Fort Middle School had fun exploring kinetic & potential energy through roller coasters!

At Delta Elementary, Ms. Smith is introducing 4th grade to microscopes! Science is really cool!

Mrs. Amy Brooks’s class at Bay Minette Elementary School took part in a grand adventure. Students traveled around campus and collected leaves. When they returned to the classroom they created a fall tree to display in the classroom.

Fairhope High School hosted their first senior “Adulting Day”. Seniors signed up for various “Adulting” sessions to attend throughout the morning. The sessions included:
1. Purchasing your first home-Anne Dorman with Mobile Bay Realty #DormanGroup
2. How to parallel park-FHS Coach Pam Brewer
3. Self Defense- Breanna Clemmons with A More Empowered You in Fairhope
4. Looking sharp-How to tie a tie-FHS Coach Obie Watkins
5. Sewing Basics- FHS FACS teacher Elizabeth Orfanello
6. Interviewing Basics- Coastal Community College Career Coach-Ms. Daisy Grant
7. Basic Automobile Maintenance(changing a tire, checking oil and air pressure, and using jumper cables) BCBE county maintenance personnel -John Kleinschmidt, Brittany Anderson, Tim McMillan, and Kevin White
8. Proper Traffic Stop Procedures & Q/A- FHPD Officer David Miller and Officer Ron Wells
9. How to set a table and proper table etiquette-Kathy Sternenberg with National League of Junior Cotillions
10. Basic 1st Aid, CPR & Heimlich – FHS Nurses C. Rencher and T. Hicks
11. Fishing 101 -FHS Coach Scott Berry
12. Basics of knot tying-FHS Coach Cody Coleman
13. Establishing and Maintaining Good Credit- Mrs. Kathy Puchner with United Bank
FHS would like to thank everyone that participated in this event and made this possible for our seniors.

Math fact fluency building pairs perfectly with a competitive game of Capture the Flag. Students are using technology tools to have fun with learning.

At Spanish Fort High Ms. Carder’s AP Lit class constructed “one word mini-posters” in which they chose the most important single word from assigned chapters in “Lord of the Flies.” They provided a visual representation of the word they chose and explained why they chose it (its importance in the chapter and the novel as a whole)

It was a fun day in Mrs. Smith’s 2nd grade class at J. Larry Newton. First they completed addition and subtraction riddles to escape the Haunted House Escape Room. They had to practice teamwork, problem solving and math skills to get their keys. Every team escaped! They ended their day with Ozobots in STEAM.

Students in Ms. Smith’s world history classes at Spanish Fort High School participated in an Enlightenment salon-style discussion on different quotes from philosophers before they researched and connected their ideas to modern life!

Second Grade at Fairhope West Elementary had a special visit from author, Shelia Booth-Alberstadt. She is the author of the Maggie McNair Series. She read aloud “Maggie McNair Has Sugar Bugs in There”. She shared with the students how she got her research for the book from our local dentist, Dr. Trey Fellers and local orthodontist, Dr. Glass. Dr. Glenn Glass is also a character in the book. The children were so EXCITED!

Congratulations to Mrs. Nagy’s homeroom students at Daphne High Schoo for winning the FX Attendance Challenge. They received a donut breakfast this morning for winning.

Teachers and staff at Stonebridge Elementary School participated in a team building activity to complete a photo scavenger hunt. What a fun way to work together!

Emma Perkins a Daphne High School Trojans ninth grader and the originator of the “Kindness Club” at Daphne Middle stopped by the school today for DMS’s Terrific Thursday/Kindness Day.Tiffany Holt the DMS homeroom sponsor invited Emma over to talk to her 20 Kindness Club students. The students created an “I Am Amazing” banner for the classroom, where all the club members write three things about themselves that make them awesome and enjoyed doughnuts. The banner will hang for the remainder of the year.

Who knew learning could be so fun?! At Florence B Mathis Elementary School Mrs. Pritchett and Mr. Dearborn’s class are enjoying center time to learn while they play.

Some up and coming Tiger performers got the opportunity to practice and perform with the Tigerettes & Tiger Guard. The lucky young ladies who received this honor got to practice with the team during the week and perform with the team at the game Friday night, both on the field and in the stands wearing their very own commemorative uniforms. This opportunity is awarded through the Tigerette & Tiger Guard Experience Package which is auctioned off at the annual Day of Dance & Spin Session and through donations to the Infirmary Foundation Gala, BMMS Roar for More, and BCHS Drawdown. This year’s Tigerette Experience winners were Anna Beth Aaron, Whitley Rolin, Chrislyn Geck, Harper Stewart, and Emma Bailey. The Tiger Guard Experience winners were Bayley Stewart, Lauren Walker, and Aziza Williams. The Tigerettes & Tiger Guard enjoy offering this experience each year, as several of our current team members were honored to get this experience when they were younger and it ignited the passion that brought them to now be part of our team! They know what something like this means and the difference it can make in a young girl’s life.

Mrs. Kirk’s 5th grade class at Robertsdale Elementary School finished their chalk pastel jellyfish in the art studio. What beautiful artwork!

Two very excited Stonebride Elementary students had the fantastic opportunity to be the Coaches for a Day! Looks like they had a lot of fun too!

Glen Lakes Junior golfer and Robertsdale High School Bear Nation student, Lucas Chalk does it again!! Lucas aced the #4 hole with a 7-Iron from 174 yards. This was the 2nd Hole in One this year for Lucas! Lucas is a product of the GlenLakes Jr. Golf Program and is the #1 player on the Robertsdale HS golf team.

FHS Art Club members and Mrs. McClay painted Fairhope’s post office windows with motivational images and words in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
We would like to thank everyone who stopped by and for their kind words. We would like to give a special thank you to Dave Glenn for stopping by and donating to the Art Club.

Congratulations to the Daphne High School Band on an outstanding performance at the 38th Heart of Dixie Band Competition in Prattville. The band earned all superior ratings in every caption and also claimed Best In Class Drum Major, Colorguard and Band. In addition to these awards the drum majors scored the highest score of the day and 2nd in overall band.
Congratulations and Go Trojans!

Students at The Academy at Fairhope Airport are learning how to connect the proper wiring to a multi-transformer and then recording the multi-meter readings. These students are dual enrolled through Coastal Alabama Community College and are from local high schools.

W.J. Carroll Intermediate School and Daphne Elementary School families enjoyed some fun fall activities at this year’s Main Street Festival. What a great time together!

Thank you to the Rockwell Elementary Booster staff, our Volunteers, Teachers, Administration and Office for making the Fun Run such a great day. We were happy for the ability for our parents to come watch today. It was a last minute decision, and the first time we have been able to have parents back to our fun run! Coach Holston kept his running Booster Fun Run streak going and ran with every group! Those that collected $175 in donations participated in the Fun Run Party too! Thank you to everyone!

Today sixth grade discovered just how challenging the journey of a 19th century immigrant could be! Thank you to everyone who helps made this awesome simulation possible.

Look at these amazing pumpkins Spanish Fort Elementary School 3rd graders worked on in art with Ms. Earls. These are terrific!

Belforest Elementary’s 2nd grade Future Teacher Leader Club members helped kindergarten students get ready for the upcoming e-Learning Day. Way to go!

The FEEF (Fairhope Educational Enrichment Foundation) Prize Patrol visited Ms. Brittany Babineaux at Fairhope Middle School. Ms. Babineaux is a World History and World History Gifted teacher. She wrote a STEAM grant for using Sphero Bolts in her history classes. The Bolts will be used for mapping, which will reinforce 7th Grade Skills. 8th Grade Skills will include movement of prehistoric groups, making comparisons between the movement of groups, like the expansion of the Roman Empire, trace the Silk Road in China and the slave trade.

Students in Mrs. Hurst’s Science class at Stonebridge Elementary School were excited to “teach” Officer Biggs about electric circuits.

Students in Mrs. Wilson’s 7th grade life science classes at Spanish Fort Middle School are learning about mitosis. They demonstrated their understanding of cellular division by modeling it using stop motion.

DMS Cross Country boys and girls both finished 4th place in the county championship meet at Graham Creek. Wilson Few finished 2nd overall for the 3A boys. Malachi Norman finished 3rd overall for the 3A boys. Alyssa Bahr finished 11th overall for the 3A girls. Go Trojans!

Spanish Fort Middle Toro Boys won overall cross-country (1st place) and Girls placed 2nd. Congrats Toros! Thank you Coach Griffin Gersonde & Coach Kim Barnes

Daphne High School Volleyball won the title Baldwin County Tournament Champions! DHS Varsity girls swept claim the title! Congrats to our JV as well for finishing in the semis.

Three Spanish Fort High School students, Maddi Heath, Price Beall, and Danielle Woods, have been selected to serve on the Prodisee Pantry Student Council! They will represent our school by being liaisons between the organization and our schools to serve our community!

A big congratulations to the W. J. Carroll Intermediate School students who participated in the Mobile Baldwin Chess League’s first match Thursday. Out of the 18 games they played, they finished with 12 wins. Great job!

Did you know… funds raised by Rockwell PTA allow Rockwell Elementary to partner with Mobile Symphony? The students love this program and Mr. Harper!

These sweet faces had a busy week at Magnolia School! Ms. Martin’s kindergarteners ended our Apple unit with an apple tasting, apple investigation, and making apple pie in a cup.

Spanish Fort Elementary students in Mrs. Knapp’s STEAM classes are creating and coding the best racetracks using Ozobots. Thank you SFEEF Spanish Fort Education Enrichment Foundation for funding grants that support our school!

St. JamesEpiscopal School1st, 2nd and 3rd graders love their regular visits tothe Fairhope Public Library!

Foley Elementary 6th Graders proudly hosted our first Hispanic Heritage program.Special thanks to the dance group for showcasing traditional dance and dress! Dancers are from Foley Middle, Foley High, St. Patrick’s and St. Michael’s Catholic Schools, along with our very own Foley Elementary 4th grader!

“In this family, NO ONE fights alone!” BMMS faculty and staff proudly wear pink to support breast cancer awareness month.

Second and Third Graders had a blast playing “Target Ball” during Coach Jimbo’s PE class.

Daphne Elementary August & September Leaders of the Month got to enjoy some extra free & play time in the Auditorium. This was part of their reward for being selected Leader of the month for their class.

Daphne East Elementary’s Mrs. DeFelippo rewarded her hard-working class with Flashlight Reading.

Congratulations Peyton! This Bay Minette Middle School student won Best of Show for the Shrimp Festival with her amazing whale drawing in charcoal.

Congratulations to CBMS student Brenna Stevens for winning 1st place at this year’s county Sweet Potato Cook-off, sponsored by the Baldwin County Farmer’s Federation and held Wednesday, September 21, at the Baldwin County Cattle and Fair in Robertsdale. Brenna’s sweet potato soup was beautifully displayed and tasted delicious!
The Sweet Potato Grower’s supplied delicious sweet potatoes to the middle and high school Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS) programs that elected to participate. A school-wide competition was held, and the first place winners competed at the county level.

Foley Middle School FCCLA sponsored our annual Sweet Potato Cook Off on Thursday. Our judges had a difficult decision to make -all the dishes were delicious but many bites and calories later, Alexis Ables took home the honors.

Congratulations to Silverhill Elementary’s Red Ribbon Representative, Mary Carmen Freeman. We are so proud of you!

Congratulations to the following St. Michael Students: Jack Glisson, Fisher Key, Abby Krehling, Charlotte Guilian, Brayden Mahatakar, and Sheppard Stimpson! (pictured below from left to right) These St. Michael students performed “Newsies Jr.” at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park in NYC this past week! They are part of Eastern Shore Repertory Theater’s elite travel team and will also perform this show at the Fairhope Civic Center and at the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta.

Congratulations to Central Baldwin Middle School’s Red Ribbon Representative, Addison Kucera. She represented CBMS last night at the Annual Superintendents Red Ribbon Event.
This years National Red Ribbon Week theme is: Celebrate Life, Live Drug Free and will be October 24-28. Be on the lookout for our Red Ribbon Week Dress Up Days!

St. Michael’s sailing team competed in the Monk Smith Regatta in Bay St. Louis Mississippi. This was a SEISA Qualifier for the Great Oaks championship for our area. With 8 races and 7 first place finishes, Saint Michael won first place overall! Congratulations to Nate Hartwell and Fisher Key for such a great day on the water!

Fairhope High School is excited to announce this year’s Homecoming Court!
Sydney Cantley-Senior, Mary Claire D’Aquilla-Senior, Renie Kennedy-Senior, Enley McCollum-Senior, Piper Reed-Senior and Homecoming Queen, Madison Frasier-Senior.
Back row – Lulu Cowden-Junior, Stella Sheldon-Junior, Laurel Gilbert-Sophomore, Autumn Ash– Freshman, Zaylee Bradley-Freshman, Reese Adams-Sophomore, Murphy Creel– Junior, Anna Bowler Conyers-Junior.

On September 30th, St. Michael held our powder puff football game (juniors vs. seniors – senior girls won) as part of our Homecoming Week festivities. It was a really fun day to be a Cardinal!

On October 5th, WKRG came out to St. Michael to film our band as “Band of the Week!” The band performed well, and showed off our Cardinal spirit! Thanks to these students, band director Mrs. Gonzalez (and student director Max Kleban) and Coach Gellington for leading these groups so well! Stay tuned to WKRG on Thursday, November 3 at 6:30pm for it to air.