Category: School News

The staff at Lakewood Park Elementary School recently acknowledged Laura Klosterman, St. Lucie County coordinator for the Grace Pack Program, and Andrea Pierson, cafeteria manager, for their work for students in need. The Grace Pack’s mission is to provide weekly, weekend food packages for students whose families may be food insecure. To participate in the program, go to www.stlucieschools.org, click on the Schools tab, and go to the Lakewood Park Elementary School site, and click on Grace Pack for a complete list of food needs. Pictured, from left, are Principal Dianne Young, Andrea Pierson, Laura Klosterman, and Assistant Principal Tammy Smith.

A team of four students from St. Lucie West K8 School, coached by science teacher Dannette Rikard, placed fifth out of the 24 teams competing in the recent Florida Regional Space Coast Science Education Alliance Middle School Science Bowl at the Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa Beach. Pictured, from left, are Maikel House, Alexis Henke, Ms. Rikard, Asja Misner, and Kevin Le.

The Port Saint Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion Drill Team won first Place over all at the District Drill Meet held at their Port Saint Lucie High School and has qualified to compete at the State Drill Meet.

The fifth grade students on the N.E.E.D. (National Energy Education Development) project team at Mariposa Elementary School are busy focusing on learning and teaching energy sources to students in other grade levels within the school. Mariposa Elementary is the N.E.E.D. state elementary school of the year, and a national finalist. This year’s group is highly motivated and working towards attending the national awards ceremony in Washington D.C. this June. Pictured, from left, are team members Cathy Smith, Justin Locklar, Hannah Wright, Monica Kalina, Mary McCartney, Mikayla Sampson, Tnanazia Young, Johann Vianna, Allysha Lillard, Jan Feliciano, and Adam Archer.

The “Writing Wizard” James Dean recently helped prepare students at Savanna Ridge Elementary School for the annual FCAT Writes standardized test. Dean, a representative from Thinking Maps, has been diligently working with the teachers and students in preparation for the writing test. The day consisted of students creating magic wands, wizard hats, and hearing a presentation to help reinforce the material they learned for the test. The students rotated through stations where they used their wands to “zap” out irrelevant information, became writing wizards on how to use clear and precise language, created thinking maps on helpful writing hints, and … Read More

Fourth grade students at Frances K. Sweet Elementary School celebrated their hard work on the recent FCAT Writes test with an ice cream party provided by the school’s PTO. Pictured is Katriel Budwah enjoying her reward.

Selected Northport K-8 middle grades students have been specially trained to serve as school ambassadors to help showcase the great events and opportunities that are available to the students, families and community members at the school. Northport has many, many community partners including military members, first responders, service therapy dog handlers and many guests who require movement within the school. The selected students have been trained to offer their guests specialized services within a cordial and warm atmosphere, and willingly offer their hand and polite conversation while transporting guests to any location on the campus grounds. The students consider being … Read More

Northport K-8 School kicked off its second book fair of the school year themed “Cruise Into Reading” by inviting Clifford the Big, Red Dog to shake the hand of parents in the parent drop off area and to welcome students into school to check out the book fair. Big Brothers, Big Sisters AmeriCorps tutors Renee Simpson and Alex Neelan are taking turns donning the red suit to intrigue the students into visiting the book fair and to promote the joy of reading to the students and parents at Northport K-8 School. The AmeriCorps tutors have become an integral facet of … Read More

Northport K-8 students were honored recently at the Port St. Lucie Elks Lodge No. 2658 for excellence in writing. The Elks offered St. Lucie County students the opportunity to respond to an essay contest entitled “What Veterans Day Means To Me!” Northport students, their parents and families, and media specialist Lynne Gruszka, were treated to a wonderful dinner, honored with six cash prizes of $100 and $50 for all winners, and beautiful plaques inscribed with each student’s name. The students were thrilled with the opportunity to experience writing with feedback and reward from community members. Northport thanks the Elks Lodge … Read More

Weatherbee Elementary School celebrated Dr. Seuss’s birthday this week by kicking off its Principal’s Reading Challenge, with the entire faculty and staff encouraging students to read as much as possible to improve their literacy. Each student will read to gain individual and classroom points. Pictured are media specialist Diane Laster and data specialist Louise Lucia looking for books in the school library.

Students in the allied health academy at St. Lucie West Centennial High School (SLWCHS) recently participated in the HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Winter Leadership Conference at Keiser University in West Palm Beach along with HOSA members from all over Region IX to determine those who would go on to state competition. Teacher and HOSA advisor Elizabeth Durkee coordinated events for the students. Pictured, from left, front row, are SLWCHS students Jalisa Smith, third place, Human Growth and Development; Michael Riley, third place, Dental Science; Tony-Anne Walker, third place, Home Health Aide; Victoria Hodges, first place, Speaking Skills. Back … Read More

Northport K-8 School Media Center and Big Brothers, Big Sisters (BBBS) of St. Lucie County, in conjunction with the AmeriCorps tutoring program, joined forces to bring a terrific community celebration of Read Across America and the birthday of Dr. Seuss to the students of Northport K-8 School recently. Special guests from across the county were warmly welcomed for a huge breakfast and then were escorted across the campus to K-5 classrooms by student ambassadors. Students and teachers were overwhelmed by the display of love, care and concern for education by arriving guests. Special thanks to Olivia Watkins, Mayor Joanne Faiella, … Read More

The staff and faculty at Samuel Gaines Academy recently sponsored a Winter Games family event.  At least 200 families — over 400 people — attended.  The opening ceremonies included teachers with their students in a “parade of colleges.” Grade level teams promoted colleges with banners as students proudly waved college flags. The family games, teacher challenges and closing ceremony that followed engaged students and families of all ages throughout the evening. In addition, parents were appreciative of the take home materials and supplies to use with their children. Pictured, from left, are fifth grade teacher Saphir St. Louis, AVID teacher Kristen … Read More

Lawnwood Elementary School second grade student Ethan Stabile is pictured with his project on display in the Kiwanis Building at the St. Lucie County Fair. Ethan’s project was on the county firefighters. Over 30 projects were selected among first through fifth graders to be displayed for Lawnwood Elementary this year, which won first place in the elementary division for the second year.

Members of the Southport Middle School Brick Squad Step Team have enjoyed entertaining crowds since the group was formed in November, 2013. Under the leadership of Adrianne Mendoza, these students stepped and marched in the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in January. They will be performing an FCAT Turn Up routine that will be broadcast on the school’s morning news show to pump students up for the upcoming tests, and will be the half-time entertainment at an upcoming basketball game. Pictured is the squad ready to perform!

The Port Saint Lucie High School Jaguar Battalion held their annual Service Learning event at their school; this year’s event was a Flag Retirement ceremony.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) recently held an awards ceremony where district winners of their annual essay contest were recognized, and students in Shirley Helton’s fifth grade class at Fairlawn Elementary School took top honors. Pictured are Carli Israel, left, who won first place for her essay on The Boston Tea Party, and Morgan Adkison, who took second place for her essay on Children During the American Revolutionary War. Carli’s essay has been submitted to the state for judging.

First grade students at Mariposa Elementary School were recently challenged to dress as a US President as a way to learn more about Presidents in the past and those in the future. Pictured, Steven Reinosa poses as future President of the United States, and his costume was so impressive, he won the contest for his class and was awarded a set of mechanical pencils instead of feathered quills.

Frances K. Sweet Elementary School hosted its fifth annual Sunrise Stampede 5K recently to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Racers ranged in age from the youngest at four years old, to the eldest at 72. Families and the community came out and had a great time raising money for a cure. Pictured is a racing family, clockwise from top left, Robin Williams, Sarai Major (second in her age division), Ariel Major, and Elijah Major (first in his age division). Complete race results are available at www.itsperfecttiming.net  

Students from Keiser University came to Savanna Ridge Elementary last week to read to students in Penny LaCorte’s classroom as part of a partnership between the school and Keiser as an ongoing support system. The 15 Keiser students had a unique assignment for their Speech/Communication class — to create a short children’s story and practice their public speaking skills by sharing their work to a group of students. The Keiser students supported the primary classrooms during the reading block. They shared their stories during read aloud time and served as “live” centers to work with students in small groups. Savanna … Read More