November 2023 Student Spotlights

Mrs. Walden’s 5th graders at Stapleton School did an exceptional job presenting a play about the Joy of Reading. The parents who attended beamed with pride both at the terrific preparation evident from their costumes and displays, and from the outstanding performances.
It was clear that the students had put tremendous energy and effort into preparing for the presentation. What great role models for the 1st grade students who enjoyed the play performed so well by their 5th grade junior champions!

These three Fairhope, High School juniors, Camryn Rauls, Alyssa Shamo and AC Ahrendt, were chosen to be members of the 2023-2024 Prodisee Pantry Student Council! The Prodisee Pantry Student Council members assist with various projects at the Prodisee Pantry and will lead a service project at Fairhope High.

Fairhope High School now has farm animals!! They are one of the highlights of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) Organization. The chickens get fed by different students every morning and are a staple for students around the school to come and visit. The goats: Willie, Cash, Hank, and Dolly are super entertaining, they have really warmed up to people and love scratches and treats! The newest edition, Clyde, is Fairhope High’s cute donkey. He loves his carrots and peppermints! The classes feed him hay and water daily and give him lots of love!

Daphne Elementary School is excited about their new Book Vending Machine! Student names will be drawn for tokens based on their attendance. Students can qualify to have their name drawn by having perfect attendance or have their name entered for the drawing after being present for 5 consecutive days of school. The Book Vending Machine was purchased with funding from our City of Daphne 3-mill property tax funds. Our students are ready to earn their gold tokens to receive some fun new books to read.

Daphne High School senior, Ms. Kacey Quinnelly, has been selected for the Daughters of the American Revolution Good Citizen Award. The DAR Good Citizens Award and Scholarship Contest, created in 1934, is intended to encourage and reward the qualities of good citizenship. This award recognizes and rewards high school seniors who possess the qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their homes, schools, and communities. These students are selected by their teachers and peers because they demonstrate these qualities to an outstanding degree. Congratulations Kacey!

Foley Elementary was awarded a grant from RC&D to fund their Tower Garden. Lisa Tidwell and Shannon Keenan as well as Crystal Leblanc (Tower Garden) accepted the check. The ladies also explained the garden project to local and state officials who are helping support RC&D as well as local schools.

The Stonebridge 5th grade students completed a mural for the Global Traveling Mural Project in library class. The mural has been cut into 10 pieces and will be mailed to other schools across the world. Those same schools will send them a piece of their mural. At the end of the project, they should have 10 different pieces that will make a new mural to display in the Stonebridge hallway. This is the second year Stonebridge Elementary School has participated in this global collaboration project.v

Robertsdale Elementary School teacher Mr. Garnai ran in the Pensacola half marathon. His students showed their support by making him this encouraging sign to have at the event.

The first-grade classes of Belforest Elementary School were honored to have local artist, Mr. Ricky Trione, visit them! He shared what “Community” means to him and led the students in an art lesson! Mr. Ricky also surprised the teachers with a beautiful piece of his art, “Dancing Crabs,” to permanently hang in the first-grade hallway. The Belforest community is blessed to know and love Mr. Ricky!

The Alabama Cookie Challenge! Students at Fairhope East Elementary used the map in their Alabama Studies Weekly newspaper to correctly label the regions of Alabama, seven major cities, and the fall line on a cookie!

Congratulations to the Foley Middle School Cross Country teams that competed in the 2A County Championship! Both teams improved throughout the season and worked hard! Congratulations to Braxton Welsh (14th place) and Lincoln Strickland (10th place) for their All-County placements!

Congratulations to the Lady Toros Volleyball Team of Spanish Fort Middle School for winning the Baldwin County Championship! These girls worked so hard all season and are undefeated! Congratulations to Coach Jones for all her hard work and dedication!

Ben Trione is #baldwinproud! Ben grew up in Daphne and has lived there all his life. He has acres and acres he uses for growing beautiful flowers. He has been sharing them with schools all over Baldwin County. He delivered 80 mason jars filled with flowers for all faculty and staff at Summerdale School. We are blessed to have people share their love for Baldwin County Schools. Thank you, Ben!

Foley High School’s very own assistant principal, Mr. Preston Sute, was inducted into the Foley High School Hall of Fame! Foley High School is thankful for his leadership and willingness to serve the same community that served him!

Main Street Fall Festival was an enormous success thanks to the efforts of the PTO groups at Daphne Elementary School and W.J. Carroll, parent volunteers, as well as high school volunteers. Everyone came together to celebrate the season and support our two Main Street schools.

Perdido 5th grade students Willow Palmer and Elise Averette were named winners in the Southern Pine Electric Company Christmas Card Competition. Willow Palmer was chosen as 2nd place winner and Elise Averette was chosen as 3rd place winner. They (along with their art) will appear in the December Alabama Living magazine. Additionally, they both received art supplies for their awards. They are pictured with their teacher Craig Canaan and Southern Pine Member Services Representative Leslie Jackson.

Spanish Fort Middle School is proud of their Cross Country Teams! The boys took 1st place and the girls placed 2nd in the championship run. These students had a great season, and the Spanish Fort Middle School community is so proud of them. Shout out to their amazing coaches, Kim Barnes and AJ Fendley, who worked so hard with these athletes all season.

The amazing Berforest Elementary School 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Fleming was presented with the Golden Apple award right after her first meeting of the running club. Mrs. Fleming is thankful to WKRG, her amazing 4th Grade team, and most importantly, her sweet students.

J. Larry Newton’s library is excited to announce they were awarded a $3,900 grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation! The grant was dedicated to building our very popular VOX book collection. VOX books can be read like a regular book or listened to on the attached audiobook recorder. Mrs. Frank was able to purchase a large amount of bilingual VOX books that can be read or listened to in both English and Spanish!

Congratulations to the Daphne Middle School September Students of the Month! Natalie and Myles are the epitome of what it means to be a Daphne Trojan.

Foley High School is excited to share that one of their teachers, Candice Tolbert, is a winner in PenAir Credit Union’s Annual TreatATeacher Facebook contest. Through Facebook, PenAir encouraged people to nominate their favorite teachers in Baldwin County, AL, and Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties in Florida. As a result, she won $1000 to be spent in her classroom. Please congratulate her!

Congratulations to Elizabeth Simpson in being chosen as the W. J. Carroll Red Ribbon representative. She will lead events during their Red Ribbon Week and will complete a service project later this year. She was honored during the Red Ribbon Superintendent’s Leadership program at Daphne Civic Center. The W. J. Carroll principal, Mrs. Bottoms, celebrated this great accomplishment with her at the event.

The Baldwin County Virtual School Red Ribbon Leader, Kristina Molina, was honored at the Drug Education Council’s 2023-2024 Red Ribbon Superintendent’s Leadership Program. BCVS Social Worker, Bonnie Hindman, (pictured with Molina) serves as faculty advisor for Red Ribbon Week. This year’s theme is “We love our veterans and first responders.”

Congratulations to the boys’ cross country team at Bay Minette Middle School for placing first in the Catman Classic for the 2A division!

Monk Day is a beloved Bayshore Christian School tradition for our 4th-grade students! Every year, students spend the day serving and cleaning the grounds, reflecting on God’s word in silence!

Congratulations to the 2023-2024 BCS Ambassadors! The BCS Ambassador Program is part of the Office of Admissions’ outreach program to prospective parents and students, and aligns with the school’s focus on student leadership, school spirit, and personal expression.

Congratulations to Becky Smith from Bay Minette Elementary who has won the September Baldwin Proud Award. Celebrating Smith today included: BCBE Superintendent Mr. Eddie Tyler, Dr. Tiffany Wilson BCBE HR Director, members of the BCBE HR department, and Bay Minette Elementary School Principal Allison Maxwell, as well as a few of Ms. Smith’s students.
The award recognizes a Baldwin County Board of Education employee who has been nominated by a peer, student, parent, or community member as a champion employee. These employees demonstrate the qualities of kindness, leadership, and service to others.

Congratulations to these Loxley Elementary School kiddos for getting into the kindergarten 100 club! Each of them are able to count to 100 without help! Great job!

Congratulations to the Silverhill Elementary School kindergarteners Jacquelyn & Easton who joined the 100 Club for counting all the way to 100! Way to go!

St Michael Sailing Team traveled to Pontchartrain Yacht Club in late September to participate in the Back to School Regatta in Mandeville, Louisiana competing with 14 boats from across the Gulf Coast.
Nate Hartwell and Fisher Key won First in C class! Anna Christian Moore skippered her first event with crew Katie Bonner. Congratulations Sailors!

Elberta Middle School hosted its annual Sweet Potato Cook Off, and 22 students entered. Emma Franks won first place with her Sweet Potato Dumplings, and Clara Timmons won second place with her Sweet Potato Casse-roses. Both represented Elberta Middle at the Baldwin County level competition on September 27. Franks placed first and Timmons placed second in the county.

Daphne Elementary School had the opportunity to honor their Red Ribbon Representative, Fox Osborne, at the Daphne Civic Center. They look forward to him leading the school in an upcoming service project.

St. Michael Catholic High School is a GOLD member of the Honor Roll! St Michael Catholic High School had 69% of seniors who took at least one AP exam during high school, 53% of seniors scoring a three or higher on at least one AP exam, and 29% of seniors who took five or more AP exams!

St. James Kindergarteners ran their own “race” to celebrate Episcopal Schools Week in honor of the week’s theme: “Run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1

Bayshore Christian School was excited to welcome their Grandparent’s & Grandpal’s to the beloved Grandparent’s Day celebration last month! It was a time for fellowship and unity. We are so blessed to have these precious memories together!

Congratulations to St. Michael senior Hailey Rockstall who was chosen as our Red Ribbon Leader. She was selected for exemplifying the 6 pillars of character identified by the Character Counts Initiative and Drug Education Council: Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. She was recognized at the Superintendent’s Red Ribbon Leadership Awards Program! You make our school a better place Hailey! She will be rolling out a school wide service project in the spring, stay tuned!

Renaissance School’s Executive Director, Courtney Klotz provided professional developments to Newsweek’s #3 Best Regional Colleges South, Flagler College. Courtney addressed education students, interns, and staff to provide invaluable information regarding autism and ADHD. #RenaissanceSchool #ReawakeningEducation

Renaissance School Lead ELA Teacher, Joann Delgado Clemmons presents Ideamapper at the International Dyslexia Association Alabama Branch conference in Orange Beach. Mrs. Clemmons proudly shared the benefits of Ideamapper, an incredible mind mapping software that is revolutionizing the way we write!
#RenaissanceSchool #ReawakeningEducation

Congratulations to our CTKCS Superintendent’s Red Ribbon Leadership Award Winner Stella Pavao. The Drug Education Council requests that all schools in Mobile and Baldwin counties select one student who best exemplifies leadership to be recognized each year. We are very proud to announce Stella as our winner and loved all the events she and the rest of the leadership team planned for Red Ribbon Week!

On Saturday, October 7th, 2023, 22 St. Michael students participated in the Auburn University Model United Nations (UN) Conference, competing against delegates from schools from around the southeast.
As a result of their research, committee participation, and country representation, the Saint Michael students received five awards, the most among participating schools. The St. Michael team has now surpassed 175 awards in the last four years with 177 awards. In an academic competition in which most schools earn zero awards and good schools earn three to five awards, the St Michael team has averaged almost fourteen awards per conference and has won the most awards at ten of thirteen conferences attended during the last four years.

Mrs. Beth Caldwell, our CTKCS Music/Fine Arts teacher guided her Junior High Students this quarter as they learned the particulars of creating a play. These students collaborated to become scriptwriters, costume designers, set designers, and thespians. Congratulations on a job well done!

Families at CTKCS were invited to bring their furry family members on campus to receive a special blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Dogs, cats, bunnies, and even squirrels joined us on campus and brought a smile to our faculty and staff!