Student Spotlights – March ’23

Summerdale’s 5th graders used the engineering process to design, modify and test parachutes to demonstrate gravity on a falling object.

Our Red Ribbon Week 6th grade leader, M.C. Freeman, with the assistance of Officer Daniel and our counselor Mrs. Bramble, organized a First Responder Day this past Friday. Students engaged with First Responders and got a close up look at Police and Fire vehicles during their PE times.A big thank you to the Silverhill Fire Department!

Lena Amare, a junior at Fairhope High School, has been volunteering at the Pelican’s Nest since her sophomore year. Every Sunday she cleans the turtle tanks, and recently came up with a way to raise funds for the new turtle habitat that will be part of the Innovation Center addition currently happening on the K-1 property. She designed a T-shirt and obtained a sponsor for the screen printing. All proceeds will be donated to FEEF for the habitat. T-shirts will be available in March through the schools, FEEF website and at the FEEF tent at Arts and Crafts near the clock.

After 13 rounds of competition, fifth-grader Peyton Peed was declared the Champion of the Perdido School Spelling Bee. Peyton will represent Perdido School in the Baldwin County Spelling Bee in February. Fifth-grader Brody Buskill finished as the runner-up. Congratulations Peyton and best of luck at the county-wide contest.

Distinguished Young Woman of Baldwin County, Ava Dowden, was the second runner-up at the 2023 Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama program, held in Montgomery. She also won a $500 scholarship as a self-expression preliminary winner and a Community Service Award.
Ava was one of 41 contestants from around the state to compete for the title this year. Throughout the week, Ava joined fellow participants for rehearsals, as well as special appearances at the Alabama Cattlemen Association’s luncheon and the Kiwanis Club, among others. The participants had the opportunity to visit the Governor’s mansion for lunch and were treated to a tour and also took part in the inauguration parade for Gov. Kay Ivey. On her official Facebook page, Gov. Kay Ivey shared “I had the pleasure yesterday of hosting the Distinguished Young Women of Alabama girls for lunch at the Mansion. Alabama is abundant with great examples of female leadership, and with their talent, abilities and determination, I know their future is full of opportunities.”
Ava is the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Craig Dowden of Fairhope and attends Alabama School of Math and Science.

The new beginning band program in Spanish Fort, the Toro Beginning Bands, includes students from Rockwell Elementary School, Spanish Fort Elementary School, and Stonebridge Elementary School. These students recently combined for their first performance together and had fun making music for the community!

First and Second Grade at J. Larry Newton have been learning about note duration in Music Class! Today, their mouse friend was programmed to reinforce the length of time that a note is played. They sang along with whole, half and quarter notes. One of the students named him Bob!

Congratulations to Rebecca Johnson, the school counselor at Daphne Elementary School, who is the 2023 Alabama School Counselor of the Year.
Along with the other State School Counselor of the Year Honorees, Rebecca was recognized during an Awards Gala that was held at Union Station in Washington, DC on February 2. During her time in Washington, DC, not only was Rebecca able to meet many of the other school counselor honorees, but she was also able to meet with Miguel Cardona, the United States Secretary of Education.
During the State Board of Education Meeting that was held in Montgomery, Rebecca was again recognized for this phenomenal achievement of being the Alabama School Counselor of the Year.
This is indeed a tremendous honor and recognition for Rebecca as she is the first school counselor from Baldwin County to be recognized as the Elementary S.

With the help of Officer Brian, Mrs. LeFever’s class used their inferencing skills and solved the case of the missing cookies!

Congratulations to the BCBE seniors who participated in the first Baldwin Connect resume scholarship competition. Over 150 entries were reviewed by local companies.
The scholarship winners were invited to a luncheon today to receive their awards and to be recognized for their achievements. Kassey Merchant, was selected as the County Scholarship Award winner. Resumes were rated by outside industry partners from Goodwyn Mills Cawood. The luncheon was catered by the students of the South Baldwin Center for Technology Culinary program.
CONGRATULATIONS to our Baldwin Connect Resume Contest Winners!
Daphne High School Trojans
Jackson DeLaGarza
Elberta High School Warriors
Bri Doege
Fairhope High School
Jada Everett
Foley High School
Kassey Merchant
Spanish Fort High School
Katelyn Lippold
Robertsdale High School Bear Nation
Nakyra Davis

Señora Holt’s Spanish classes at Fairhope High had a STEAM lesson and designed and decorated their own CASAS using strawbees.

The Baldwin County High School Tigerettes competed in the DTU Alabama Regional Competition, placing second in Varsity Pom and fourth in Varsity Kick. “This team works very hard. They are extremely dedicated and connected to their commitment,” said Coach Elizabeth Byrd. “They took on new challenges in the competition routines which we haven’t done in years past and are doing a fantastic job executing excellent performances.”
The team also recently competed in the NDA Bama Dance Competition, which breaks style categories up into size divisions of small, medium, and large to award placement. The Tigerettes earned first place in large Varsity Pom and second place in Large Varsity Kick. The DTU competition was a Regional Championship where there is no breakup of style by size. All varsity teams compete against each other, regardless of size for Championship titles.
The Tigerettes will now prepare to close their competition season at a Super Regional, set for March 11 in New Orleans.

Fairhope East Elementary would like to thank Mr. Bob, a professional bowler, for coming out and talking to our students and helping them with bowling in Coach Ferguson’s classes. What a great day!

The Perdido School Raiders had three student athletes receive honors at the County Basketball Tournament. Lana LaBlue, Traegan James and Ally Hall, from left, received All-County and MVP Awards.

Baldwin County High School HOSA students almost had a clean sweep at the 4th annual Baldwin County HOSA Sports Medicine Competition at Foley High School. BCHS students competed against Foley High and Spanish Fort High School in a written test according to the class they are currently in, and the top ten in each group went on to a practical skills section. Out of the top 10, BCHS took nine of the 10 spots and swept the practical part of each competition. They also competed in a speed ankle taping competition and Savannah Catrett broke last years’ time with a time of 28 seconds.
BCHS students claimed all top three spots in these categories:
Sports Medicine Foundation Winners
1st place- Macey McKinley
2nd place- Madilyn Byrd
3rd place- Kinsey Seals
Sports Medicine Intermediate/Advanced Winners:
1st place- Ericka Hall
2nd place-Stacie Wilson
3rd place-Julia Ching
Speed Tape Winners:
1st place- Savannah Catrett– 28 seconds
2nd place- Ericka Hall
3rd place- Arionna Tutor
“These students worked really hard studying and practicing their skills this month,” said Brian Metz, HOSA Sponsor.

Planning for St. Michael Catholic High School’s largest annual fundraiser, Cardinals in the Courtyard Gala, is currently underway. An unforgettable evening of dining and entertainment will be held on March 25th, 2023 at their campus courtyard located off of St. Michael Way (previously Higbee Road) in Fairhope, Alabama.
The 7th Annual Cardinals in the Courtyard festivities will commence at 7pm in the evening allowing guests to have a truly memorable experience under the stars while enjoying gourmet tasting stations by The Wash House, Conecuh Sausage & Punta Clara Kitchen, a fabulous live auction, an online silent auction, and a dueling piano performance by the renowned Felix & Fingers.
“This fundraising celebration helps tremendously in continuing our mission of inspiring students to become scholars, leaders and disciples of Jesus Christ” said Mr. Paul Knapstein, Interim Principal of St. Michael Catholic High School “In fact, last year’s event raised over $150,000!”
This year’s gala is presented by The Cromeans Foundation and Sandy Sansing Car Dealerships. Additional sponsorship opportunities offering guaranteed event admission and preferred seating option are currently available on the school website at StMichaelCHS.org (“Giving” tab), by clicking here, or reaching out to the sponsorship chairs directly (Jennifer Blanchard 251.979.1757 | blanch@gulftel.com or Miranda Bennett 251.455.7391 | mirandaanded@gmail.com. Individual ticket sales will open closer to the event. To stay up-to-date on event updates and festivities be sure to follow their Facebook page @cardinalsinthecourtyard.
Pictured from left to right: Trin Ollinger, Jenny Kopf, Lisa Terrell, Miranda Bennett, Ashley Bonner, Liz Hendrick, Marlena Kruse, Stephanie Williamson, Angie Sherrer, Lindsay Schumacher. Committee members not pictured: Lindsey Tomlinson, Jen Blanchard, Stephanie Williamson, Lana Pulido, Jessica Deese, Emily Callahan, Nicole Hutto, Erin Armstrong, Rachel Kaiser, Rachel Seiselmyer, Gillie McLean, Beth Glisson, and Lynn Borel

1st graders in Mrs. Norris’s class at Fairhope West Elementary learned about geometry in the STEAM lab. Students used coding to give their robot directions on which shapes to draw.

Junior Auxiliary’s Katherine Rice and Veronica Bishop recently recognized J. Larry Newton students who work hard and demonstrate good character. A big shout out to Junior Auxiliary of the Eastern Shore for recognizing these students.

Mrs. Canida’s class at Fairhope East Elementary has been learning about rocks and the layers of soil. To wrap up our unit students had to demonstration their knowledge of the layers and choose appropriate materials to represent what is found in each layer. Who knew dirt could taste so good?!

Mrs. Shugart’s Kindergarten students wrapped up their 3D shape unit by having 3D snacks.

Congratulations to Jonathan B., 5th grader at Belforest! Jonathan won the Youth Wrestling Championship last month in Birtmingham, AL. Way to represent your family, your school and all of Daphne!

Belforest Elementary first graders enjoyed spending the day at the Pelican’s Nest and the bay in Fairhope learning about habitats and endangered animals in the Mobile Bay.

Congratulations to these young men from Daphne Middle School for making the All Tournament team and to Drake for MVP!

Congratulations to the Daphne High School Lady Trojans Basketball Team, the 2023 Baldwin County JV Champs!

Congratulations to the Daphne East Elementary School 2nd quarter Crown of Character recipients! Mrs. Wallace: Nicholas – Mrs. Waddle: Nevaeh – Mrs. Gamble: Ella – Mrs. Kowalczyk: Aubrey – Mrs. Cunningham: Edynn – Mrs. Dawson: Skylar

The DMS Chess Team ended the season with a phenomenal night. The Daphne B Team won 3rd place and the Daphne A Team won 1st place. Also, a special shout out to Sebastian De La O who won 1st place individually. Incredible job, Trojans!

Thank you Senior Bowl for sharing these amazing role models with our students today! They talked to the students about hard work, never giving up, and listening to your parents. The players even accepted some jump rope challenges and signed the PE Senior Bowl wall, took photos with every class and had a griddy competition! It was a fun morning and we wish them the best of luck in their game tomorrow and the draft!

Ms. Fleck’s AP Environmental Science students at Spanish Fort High School engineered different methods of irrigation to determine which approach is the most cost-effective and beneficial for natural preservation.

Rockwell Elementary School is so excited to officially open our new playground. This playground is equipped to accommodate our special needs students. Mrs. Barnhill’s kids are already having fun and in love with it

Rockwell Elementary Band had a fun guest conductor! Did you know that Mr. Owen was the Drum major for his high school band?? Thank you, Mr. Owen, for joining the band for a song.

Students in Mrs. Hurst’s class at Stonebridge Elementary “reconstructed” Alabama while learning about the Reconstruction Era in Alabama History.

Bayside Academy’s 1st & 8th grade buddies created Valentine bags together for their February activity. The students decorated the bags by cutting out hearts, coloring, and adding stickers. Pictured: Bayside Academy 1st & 8th grade buddies working on their bags

Bay Minette Middle School’s Vex IQ Robotics team has qualified to attend the Alabama State Vex IQ championship in Auburn. Team members Pierce Coleman, Ciara Comalander, Catherine White, Khloe Little and Evan Peppers won the slapshot competition at the Bots in the Lions Den event in Foley to qualify. Dana Markulj serves as the team sponsor for BMMS.

Mrs. Stewart’s First Grade Reading Comprehension Group at Loxley Elementary School is currently researching Endangered Animals. They will take their new knowledge and share in a google slide presentation to their peers.

Lots of learning going on in Mrs. Street’s 6th grade classroom at Foley Elementary. They are digging into persuasive text, identifying claims and counterclaims and determining which has more credible evidence!

Mrs. Glaser’s class at Foley Elementary School, along with some special helpers, enjoyed a day of discovery and exploration at The Pelican’s Nest in Fairhope.

Ms. Ward’s advanced history class at Foley Middle School recently held a Harkness Discussion on the three primary causes of the fall of Rome and which one was the most important. Students referenced documents to cite evidence for their claims before beginning their writing assignment for this topic.

Anna Beth Korhonen broke another Foley High School Varsity girls’ soccer record on Thursday, February 9th in the Lady Lions game against Alma Bryant. Anna Beth scored 6 goals – a double hat trick – to help her team secure a 9-3 win over the hurricanes. Congratulations Anna Beth! The previous record was 3 goals (a hat trick) held by several former Lady Lion soccer players.

Congratulations to the students who played for our school at one or all of the four Mobile/Baldwin County Chess League meets this school year. Last night at Bayside Academy where the last meet took place, our school was awarded a 3rd place trophy for the elementary division. As well, three of our students finished the season as a top 10 elementary player: Jackson McGivney, Jamison McGivney, and Micah D’Amico.
Those three along with Chase Cordell, Graham Downs, Finley Wren, Chase Jones, David Bermudez, Madeleine Cousins, Mason Gossen, Zane Yoder, Loralie Schaffer, and Max McCullers represented our school every time with Carroll character. We are proud of all of them!

Stonebridge Elementary 2nd graders had a great time celebrating being super citizens with Liberty Learning. Students chose our SRO, Sgt. Gerald Biggs and Spanish Fort Fire Department’s Lt. Tim Cooper as recipients of the Helping Hands Hero Award for their excellent service to our community.

Stapleton School was proud to host the first-ever meeting of the newly formed BCBE Small School Syndicate. The principals of the six district elementary schools with 400 or fewer students met today to collaborate and learn from each other. Participating schools are Delta, Elsanor, Rosinton, Stapleton, Swift, and the Virtual Elementary School.
While smaller schools are afforded many advantages because of their size, there are also unique difficulties that schools with larger staffs and greater resources do not face. The Syndicate was formed to allow the schools to work together to address concerns common to each, and to provide a strong support network for not only the administrators at the school, but other personnel as well.
Pictured are Torrey Berry (Swift School), Sarah Sadlis (Baldwin County Virtual Elementary School), Charlotte Gray (Elsanor School), Jim Perry (Stapleton School), Jennifer Middleton (Delta School), and Andy Benton (Rosinton School).

2nd graders at Robertsdale Elementary had a blast honoring their community heroes and they made the pledge to be Super Citizens!

Bayside Academy celebrated Mardi Gras on Friday, February 10 with a school-wide Mardi Gras parade. Students in third grade engineered Mardi Gras floats with a “Down by the Bay” theme. Seniors and Early Childhood Center (ECC) students in Grades PK3–K threw candy, and cast members of The Witch’s Princess joined the parade. Upper School Dean of Students Ryan Campbell and Registrar Jo Ann Weller were selected as the king and queen for this year. Pictured: Bayside Academy kindergarten students throw candy during the Mardi Gras parade.

Thank you to our local Rotary Club for their donation of dictionaries to all of our the Florence B Mathis Elementary 3rd grade students.

The Foley Optimist Club recently recognized Coach Dixon, Coach Flanigan and Foley High School’s girls indoor track team on their 4th place finish in the 7A Indoor State Championship. Members of the team include Aliyah Williams, Jaylin Mitchell, Destiny Roper, Zi’Morah Foster, Tamia Dantzler, Hope Collins, & Emily Wolf. Great job ladies!

Spanish Fort Elementary Kindergarten students had a wonderful day of learning and fun while celebrating being 100 days smarter!

Mrs. Hodges’ class at Robersdale Elementary had fun in STEAM Lab learning how to code with Sphero Indi cars.

Congratulations to all of our BCS students who competed in the 2023 Spelling Bee. We are so proud of you!
1st Place- Connor Moore
2nd Place- Cirra Kerr
3rd Place- Gaines Gilliver

Dr. Eric Steward, Associate Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of South Alabama, spoke to students in many of Robertsdale High School Math, Science and Engineering-based courses today. He gave them an in depth look at the many different careers available to them in the field of Engineering as well as the opportunities to pursue Engineering at the University of South Alabama. Thank you, Dr. Steward, for helping our students take the first step towards becoming the engineers of tomorrow!

BCS Mu Alpha Theta competed at MaPP Challenge in Auburn this past month and brought home 1st place! Congratulations team!

Four St. Michael Catholic School seniors signed Letters of Intent to compete in their sports at the college level next year. Pictured from left to right: Marley Charles: Spring Hill College volleyball
Mimi Smith: University of Alabama Huntsville Soccer
Tyler Cella: Benedictine College Football
Clay Barr: Delta State University Football

Bayside Academy is very proud to announce the results of the Region-at-Large competition of the 100th year of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. We congratulate our students who have been honored with a Scholastic Art & Writing Award in one of the most prestigious art competitions for high school students in the United States.
Since 1923, the Scholastic Awards have recognized some of America’s most celebrated artists when they were teenagers. This group of distinguished alumni includes, among others, artist Andy Warhol, author Truman Capote, portrait photographer Richard Avedon, poet Sylvia Plath, actor Robert Redford, and clothing designer Zac Posen. Bayside’s Visual Arts Department is excited to have some of our creative students join this group of artists.
Each year, students across America submitted more than 300,000 original works in 29 different categories of art. Outstanding works are honored with Gold Keys, Silver Keys, and honorable mentions. Gold Keys are awarded to work demonstrating the highest level of achievement in originality, personal voice, and technical skill, and these winners advance to the national level of judging in New York City. On average, only 5% of all regional submissions (260,000-plus) are recognized with Gold Keys and advance to the national competition.
This year, our talented students were rewarded for their artistic endeavors with four keys and an honorable mention.
Bayside’s 2023 Scholastic Art & Writing Award Winners
Gold Keys
· Junior Isabelle Rutland: Gold Key Painting, “Seagull Study”
· Senior Lillie McInnis: Gold Key Photography, “Rooted Energy”
Silver Keys
· Senior Samuel Carpenter: Silver Key Photography, “Fox Trot”
· Junior Isabelle Rutland: Silver Key Painting, “Intertwined”
Honorable Mention
· Junior Elizabeth Ernest: Honorable Mention Painting, “Head in the Clouds”
We are so very proud of these talented students who have put in many long hours to create their art.
Pictured: Bayside Academy students Isabelle Rutland, Lillie McInnis, Samuel Carpenter, and Elizabeth Ernest display their award-winning work.

The St. Michael Freshman boys basketball team won the Baldwin Country freshman tournament after beating Spanish Fort, Fairhope, and Daphne. They ended the season with a 7-1 record. The future is bright for our basketball program!

Students in Mrs. Lyon’s Kindergarten class at Daphne Elementary School celebrate the 100th day of school by dressing up 100 years smarter.

St. James Episcopal School students enjoyed their annual Mardi Gras Box Parade through the school campus!

Webelos 1 Scout Brooks Williford of Cub Scout Pack 177 of Spanish Fort earned a special NOVA award for his completion of a mathematics STEM program. Brooks was presented the award by special guest Chewbacca at the pack’s Blue and Gold Banquet.

Mrs. Battle and the DES Part-Time Title Instructors deliver Annie’s pretzels to the faculty and staff to let them know that the school year would “knot” be the same without them!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Baldwin County Career and Technical Education Career Coaches who wrote and received a $50,000 CTE Grant to implement virtual reality learning with Transfr VR into all Baldwin County Middle Schools to learn about careers!
This grant will aline with the Governor’s Workforce Initiative. There are a lot of exciting things happening in Baldwin County Public Schools! Way to go Career Coaches!

Congratulations to Renaissance School Senior, Will Blevins! He has been accepted and will attend Marion Military Institute after his high school graduation. We’re so proud of you!

Bayside Academy kindergarten students celebrated the 100th day of school today by dressing up as centenarians. Kindergarten students have been counting the days of school since the first day of kindergarten, and they worked with the three-digit number in their classrooms as they celebrated this special day.
The kindergarteners paraded around campus, and we had two special visitors join us for the parade: Elsie Moreland (98), great-great-grandmother of kindergartener Wilder Nelson, and Christine Lawson (100), great-great-grandmother of kindergartener Everett Cutright.
Pictured: Bayside kindergarten students and teachers dressed as centenarians for the 100th day of school on Tuesday, January 31.

Congratulations to Renaissance School student’s Lei Beckley, and Adam Stroecker,! Both Lei and Adam placed on a national level in the Alliance for Young Artist and Writers Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. This is an incredible honor chosen out of nearly 300,000 submissions. Lei won a Silver Key and Adam won 2 Gold Keys and a Silver Key. These young men and their teacher will be honored at a banquet this summer. We are so proud of you!

So proud of our BCS students at the 7th grade Science Fair! We loved seeing all of these young minds hard at work! Congratulations to our Science Fair winners!
1st Place- MC Griffith
2nd Place- Lucas Johnson
3rd Place- Ben Gifford

Ms. Ezell and Mr. Dearborn’s classes used the Kagan structure Quiz-Quiz-Trade to review for their upcoming math test! They worked independently to solve problems, then worked together to check one another’s answers.

Congratulations to St. Michael senior Tradd McDaniel who received the Good Citizen Award for the Class of 2023 by the Ecor Rouge Chapter of the DAR. This award recognizes and rewards a high school senior in our community who possesses the qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their home, school, and community. Tradd was first selected by faculty and staff to represent St. Michael as our DAR Good Citizen. Tradd then competed against representatives from other local high schools in an essay contest, and was chosen as the winner by a panel of judges. Tradd is pictured here with his mother, Laura McDaniel.

We are so very #BaldwinProud of Taylor Scott, a 7th-grade student at Fairhope Middle, who won the Baldwin County Spelling Bee Championship. She will be competing in the Alabama State Spelling Bee on March 18th! Please join us in wishing Taylor good luck! GOOD LUCK, TAYLOR!!!

Sara Carter Hare (8th grade) and Ainsley Madden (7th grade) played in the Auburn Invitational in Opelika today with the Spanish Fort High School Girls Golf team. SFHS came in 4th out of 20 schools and both girls shot their personal best in an 18 hole round. Way to represent Lady Toros.

Our SFMS MathCounts team came in 2nd , advances to state. Wyatt Darley placed 4th individual, and Wyatt Purser was runner up in Countdown Round. Team members were Wyatt Darley, Wyatt Purser, Ezra Emmertson, and Syon Mistry. Individual players were Isabella Vuong, Aarush Yadav, and Elise Anderson. 5 SFMS students placed in the top 12! Thank you Meredith Purser for your leadership.

Renaissance School student’s visit Coastal Community College. They look forward to dual enrollment opportunities in the fall.

Hail, King Hunter! Renaissance School’s very own Hunter Moore led the Order of Hebe as King this Mardi Gras, and the ball was so much fun too!

Leah Gwaltney was Classical Conversations’ 1st place winner in our Robertsdale Monday Challenge A Class Science Fair.