St. Lucie County was awarded a County Government Best Practices Award from the Florida Counties Foundation during the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) Annual Conference in Orange County last week. St. Lucie County received the award for Student Perks Coffee Cart program and was among seven counties honored during the FAC Celebration Dinner.
In partnership with St. Lucie Public Schools, the Board of County Commissioners created a weekly coffee cart program, giving students the opportunity to run a coffee shop inside
the County Administration Complex, offering real-world experience and providing much needed snacks and coffee to county employees. Last year, the program received a National Association of Counties Program Excellence Award.
The Student Perks program has been so successful that it was offered this year at Port St. Lucie City Hall and plans are underway to offer it in the 2019-20 school year at the
City of Fort Pierce. Students Perks is currently on summer break, but plans to return to the St. Lucie County Administration Complex on Tuesdays this fall and Port St. Lucie City Hall on Thursdays.
“The Best Practices Award is a great way to highlight local initiatives and innovative solutions that counties are employing to increase efficiencies in service.” said Executive Director of
the Florida Counties Foundation Eric Poole. “It’s our goal, not only to honor this year’s winners, but to also encourage a peer to peer exchange of ideas between all 67 counties.”
Launched this year, the FAC awards program was designed for counties to submit programs or projects for consideration that address specific needs within their communities. Twenty- two projects
were submitted for consideration, with seven project submissions meeting the criteria set forth in the nomination form.
The winning projects were:
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Alachua County: Emergency Operations Center Shelter Communications App
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Volusia County: Animal Abuse Database
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St. Lucie County: Student Perks – Coffee Cart
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Leon County: Development Support and Environment Management “Upgrade”
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Orange County: Recycling Quality Improvement Program
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Osceola County: SENSES Park
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Pasco County: Connected City: America’s first gigabit community built from the ground up
In 1990, the Florida Association of Counties established the Florida Counties Foundation (FCF) to address the growing need for education programs and technical assistance in counties across Florida.
Today, FCF offers outstanding education programs designed to help county commissioners and county staff better serve their communities.
The Oxbow Eco-Center will offer its premier Art of Puppetry Camp this summer for children ages 8 to 12, running July 29 through Aug. 2 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Participants will explore the many kinds of puppets with the help of professional puppeteers from around the state. Both IBEX Puppetry and Katie Adams’ Make Believe Theater will offer workshops on storytelling, the history of puppetry and puppet-making.
Campers will build a variety of puppets, including giant dragonfly hand puppets, shadow puppets with moveable parts and sandhill crane marionettes. The camp also features lessons on the fundamentals of performing. As a grand finale, campers will present a show for family and friends. Cost for the camp is $200. To register for Oxbow Summer Camps, visit www.oxboweco.com and click on the Summer Camps tab.
Puppets are a delight for all ages and have been used for thousands of years to tell stories and entertain audiences. Oxbow Eco-Center is pleased to continue this artistic tradition.
IBEX Puppetry has worked with the Oxbow previously during last year’s Procession of the Species, including a special puppetry-making workshop for teachers and adults. Based out of Central Florida, IBEX was founded in 2000 by Creative Director Heather Henson, daughter of famous puppeteer Jim Henson.
Based in Tampa, Katie Adams is a professional storyteller and member of the Puppeteers of American and the National Storytelling Network. She has been a professional puppet artist since 1986, and she loves to bring puppet shows to audiences all over the southeast and beyond.
For anyone interested in participating in the 3rd Annual Procession of the Species on Saturday, Oct. 26 – this summer camp is the perfect opportunity to work on your costume and puppetry skills.
The Oxbow Eco-Center is a St. Lucie County Environmental Learning Center encompassing 225 acres along the St. Lucie River, located at 5400 NE St. James Drive in Port St. Lucie. For more information contact the Oxbow at 772-785-5833 or oxbow@stlucieco.org or visit the website at www.oxboweco.com.
SLPS graduation ceremonies continue to rank as highlights on the WLX-TV Education Channel. Broadcast times for these memorable moments are:
Friday (6/14): 9AM, 7PM
Saturday (6/15): 12AM, 7AM, 12PM, 7PM
Sunday (6/16): 12AM, 9AM, 1PM, 8PM
Monday (6/17): 12AM, 11AM, 4PM, 9PM
Tuesday (6/18): 8AM, 12PM, 1PM, 8PM
Wednesday (6/19): 6AM, 12PM, 3PM, 9PM
Thursday (6/20): 7AM, 12PM, 7PM, 10PM
We are featuring several new shows this week! Make sure to watch Community Connections hosted by Sean Boyle and Ashley Mock, Que Pasa hosted by Linda Tapia, Legal Affairs hosted by Diamond Litty, and Live United hosted by Kenrick Thomas. Also make sure to tune in to the airing of our monthly school board meeting for June.
We
are on Comcast Channel 13 (Fort Pierce), Channel 19 (Port St. Lucie), and Channel 99 on AT&T U-Verse.
You can also catch us on YouTube. While you’re there, subscribe to our channel, then head over to Facebook and like/follow our page – WLX-TV.Weekly
Programming Guidehttp://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/Media/Weekly.pdf
Village Green Environmental Studies students explain their roles in maintaining our permaculture garden to special guests including Port St. Lucie Mayor Oravec. The garden includes food-producing plants from around the world growing in a system that imitates nature and is free from pesticides and herbicides. The school has multiple ‘farm-to-table’ experiences for students throughout the school year.
