Incoming 9th graders enjoyed an information-packed orientation filled with sessions on Fort Pierce Westwood Academy’s magnet programs, graduation requirements, and a scavenger hunt around campus. Welcome Class of 2026!
Author: REBECCA BENTON
Fort Pierce Westwood Academy teachers and staff geared up for a great school year at the annual MSAP Symposium! Presentations were made by Superintendent Dr. Jon Prince, State Representative Dana Trabulsy, and Microsoft Education Industry Executive Victoria Thompson. Teachers continued their learning with a presentation from the Oxbow Center about invasive species; then STEAM lessons were created for students to dive deep into this topic this year!
Westwood teachers and staff enjoyed a historic tour of Fort Pierce led by Mayor Linda Hudson, former Mayor Bob Benton, and St. Lucie County Planning Manager Kori Benton. Locations such as the Zora Neale Hurston Library, the A.E. Backus Museum, and Old City Hall were highlighted as well as the surrounding neighborhoods where many students reside. Thank you to our wonderful tour guides for starting this preservice week with information about our beautiful city.
Students at CAST enjoyed a fun night of pizza, raffles, and STEAM activities at our annual STEAM Night. There were different activities for grade groups such as playing with kinetic sand, painting with puffy paint, creating their own musical instruments to learn about vibrations, and designing chemical reaction cars. It was a fun night of learning!
Kindergarten, first, and second-grade students learned all about fire safety, and they also learned about our firefighter friends from St. Lucie County’s Engine 15! Students now know how to check smoke detectors, how to make a fire escape plan, and how to call 9-1-1! Thank you for keeping us safe!
We are so proud of our leaders at CAST! We are so happy to be able to recognize our Leaders of the Month who demonstrate exemplary leadership skills in the Leader in Me Habit 6 “Synergize”, and Habit 7 “Sharpen the Saw”, in our first live ceremony this year. Our Student Ambassadors helped run the ceremony and our sixth-grade dancers performed. Way to go CAST performers!
Kindergarten, first and second graders visited with CAST’s very own Deputy Reid to learn more about community helpers. We learned about how to stay safe, stranger danger, and the ins and outs of his many safety tools! Thank you, Deputy Reid!
“Beat It” by Michael Jackson, “Zombie” by the Cranberries, and “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King were just some of the rock classics Mr. Guess’ CAST Rock Band performed at their rock concert! There were also several keyboard ensembles and solos! We are blinded by all the talent at CAST!
We are so proud of our 8th grade Musical Theater students; they did an amazing job at their last CAST performance! Their skits and monologues were led by Mr. Rahming. We will miss them!
Fourth grade students in Mrs. Denman and Mrs. Tyler’s class took the initiative to clean up CAST’s campus instead of having recess. They decided to dedicate every Tuesday to picking up trash around our school. They also used recycled containers to plant seeds!
Fifth graders in Ms. Broderick & Mrs. Church’s class researched what companies can do to help the environment, wrote about what they can do at home and at school, and then brainstormed what they think the Earth will look like in 30 years to celebrate Earth Day!
Third grade students made junk-bots! They used materials they were going to recycle at home and then up-cycled them to build creative robots. They designed their plan, wrote out their steps, and named their creations!
Kindergarten, first & second grade students participated in a variety of creative Earth Day projects. All students brainstormed many ways they could take care of our Earth and make it a better place!
Middle School Visual Arts students collaborated with the St. Lucie Cultural Alliance, St. Lucie Environmental Resources Department and Oxbow Eco-Center to create up-cycling sculptures for the St. Lucie Earth Day Festival. Students learned facts about recyclable materials and being good stewards of our natural resources and environment. Students were provided recyclable items by the St. Lucie Environmental Resources Department and created their up-cycled sculptures by integrating objects like metal clothes hangers, plastic water and soda bottles, bottle caps, plastic beads, foam, textiles, and paper products to help create their animal forms. Students also used stones to create different pieces of … Read More
Sixth grade students at CAST used recycled materials, like the used pages of their consumable science book, to create posters to raise awareness about Earth Day!
St. Lucie Public Schools hosted their 30th Annual History Day district fair on February 21-25. National History Day is a historical research project that allows for a creative display of research, based on the theme of Debate and Diplomacy. 8th grader Kaleel Dennis was selected to move on to the Florida National History Day competition. Kaleel submitted a paper on “The Politics of the Reconstruction Era”.
The CAST Media Arts Department helped us celebrate and recognize our wonderful assistant principal, Mrs. Gavoni, during Assistant Principal Week. We love you Mrs. Gavoni, thank you for everything you do for CAST! https://youtu.be/0hwaozoAwZQ
Kindergarten, first and second-grade students went on a field trip to the 4H Farm! They learned about various farm animals, gardening, and Florida agriculture! We had a blast!
Students at CAST have been implementing principles of the Leader in Me program by assisting around the school. They were paired with a teacher to mentor them and enhance their leadership skills. Students help in their class by buddy reading, playing with younger students on the playground, and delivering packages from the front office. We are so proud of our CAST leaders!
Congratulations to CAST sixth-grader, Emily Tourjee, for winning the annual “Drop Savers” Poster contest! April is Water Conservation Month and Port St. Lucie Utilities Systems invited St. Lucie County K-12 students to participate in the 6th annual 2022 Drop Savers Water Conservation Poster Contest. Mrs. Grasso offered the contest to her middle school Graphic Arts classes as it aligns with Graphic Design principles – combining words and images. The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness as well as educate young people on the importance of saving water. There were 199 entries and a single winner was selected for each … Read More