School display winners from the St. Lucie County Fair were recognized at the April 10, 2012 St. Lucie County School Board meeting, and presented with their monetary awards. Pictured, from left, are Superintendent Michael Lannon, Port St. Lucie High School assistant principal Alex Oge, St. Lucie West Centennial High School principal John Lynch, School Board chairman Carol Hilson, St. Lucie Elementary principal Bernadette Floyd and assistant principal Nicole Ortega, and Quinn Haisley, president of the Sunrise Kiwanis Club of Fort Pierce who presented the monetary awards. All told, Sunrise Kiwanis presented $4,300 to schools at the board meeting. The following were those awarded … Read More

Ten students who will represent St. Lucie County in the middle school delegation for the People to People outreach program from St. Lucie County Schools were presented at the April 10, 2012, St. Lucie County School Board meeting. Desiree Hitchmon-Houghton, Teacher Delegation Leader at St. Lucie West K-8 School, will be traveling with the students from the Middle School Delegation to France, Italy and Greece this summer. The People to People program was founded by President Eisenhower in 1956 with the mission of promoting peace through understanding. He believed that if people of different countries came together and learned from one … Read More

The Sunrise Kiwanis Club of Fort Pierce made its annual contributions to school media centers at the April 10, 2012, St. Lucie County School Board meeting. Members of the club annually participate in reading during the Read Across America Day, which is around the birthday of the author of Dr. Seuss books, at local elementary schools. Each school was presented with $250 for its media center. Pictured, front row, from left, are Fairlawn Elementary principal Marcia Cully and assistant principal Pat Gascoigne, and F. K. Sweet Elementary principal Juanita Wright and assistant principal Kisha Belande-Hinds. Back row, from left, Lawnwood Elementary assistant … Read More

The Fort Pierce Sunrise Kiwanis Club presented its annual $1,000 donation to the St. Lucie County Education Foundation at the April 10, 2012, St. Lucie County School Board meeting. The donation will further support the Foundation’s mission of providing scholarships to graduating seniors in St. Lucie County, as well as grants for classroom and school-wide grants for innovative instruction. “The Education Foundation board of directors is extremely appreciative of the continuing support the Kiwanis Club has provided to help in our mission,” remarked Education Foundation executive director Jim McKenzie. Pictured, from left, are Joe Mazur of the Kiwanis Club, Education Foundation … Read More

The Southport Middle School National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) recently inducted new members for the 2012-2013 school year.  Society members wanted to show their appreciation for all that guidance counselor Kristen Alvarez has done for them to coordinate NJHS events and community activities, and surprised her with a small party!  The students put together a team effort and presented her with a cake and a gift from all of them.  Pictured, from left, are Hailey Hughes, Fernando Pinyero, Lucia Cabanela, Harrison Reither, Samantha Lucidi, Anna Lancaster, Kendall Spurr, Guadalupe Barco-Garcia, Madeline Sands and Ms. Alvarez.

The Fort Pierce Central Performing Arts Department proudly presents the Broadway musical Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, April 12-14 at 7:00 PM at the Fort Pierce Central High School Auditorium, 1401 South 25th Street in Fort Pierce. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students. Tickets are available at the Fort Pierce Central box office in advance, and will be sold at the door. After spending a hopelessly devoted summer with Sandy Dumbrowski, the new girl in town, Danny Zuko’s world is turned upside down when Sandy appears at Rydell High School on the first day of … Read More

Students in Crystal Carrington and Bridget Valinote’s seventh grade classes were  excited to attend a field trip to Rave Cinema to see the new movie The Hunger Games. Students had just finished reading the book in their reading class, so they were able to extend their learning by comparing and contrasting elements of the book to the movie.  The votes are in that the book was better than the movie and gave so much more detail!  Students are now very motivated to read the sequel Catching Fire. Pictured, from left, are Madison Kennedy, Brandon White, and Kylie Coons smiling and eager to board … Read More

Southern Oaks Middle School sixth grade students recently received small group instruction for reading in preparation for the upcoming FCAT.  Southern Oaks media center’s Cathy Odom and Kim Johnson organized the event for the students.  Sixth grade students from Cathy Ciccarelli’s and Kevin McInerney’s classes participated in the rotation.  Students were placed in groups of five or six each day and traveled through four different classes on reading.  Kaitlyn Granger and Vincia Gavoni taught Author’s Purpose, Cathy Ciccarelli and Tiffany Barrett taught Text Features, Sara Denning and Jo Ann Conard taught Context Clues, and finally Jack Babcock and Kevin McInerney taught … Read More

Students from Desiree Miller’s first grade class at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition are seen holding up posters they made for cafeteria manager Nancy DeGuzman, pictured with the students. Students participated in the Walk-A-Thon with proceeds going to the Relay for Life team which helps the American Cancer Society.

Fifth grade twins Rachel and Carly Bentel at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition use balloons to demonstrate static electricity in a recent science experiment for their science club.  The club is sponsored by fifth grade teacher Michelle Powers. Students met once a week in the morning before school and did fun and educational experiments.

Palm Pointe Educatioinal Research School at Tradition principal Debra Snyder, from left, and assistant principals Latricia Thompson and Kathleen Perez visit classes to encourage students before they take the FCAT tests.  Benchmark data is reviewed, test tips are given as well as lots of celebrations.

Students in Maurizio Apostolico’s Visual Computer Modeling class at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition are hard at work creating “sprites,” images that can be used in their original game creations.  The concept was to illustrate an original game character, then pixelate the image to create a sprite.  Eventually, these sprites will become fully animated for their final project.  Pictured is seventh grader Logan Henik as he shows what he’s been creating.

Students in the Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) class at Palm Pointe Educational Research School @ Tradition are pictured here as they work in their classroom.  Students and staff wore blue for “Light It Up Blue” for Autism Awareness with the proceeds going to help support the Autism Speaks Walk which will take place on April 21, 2012.  Pictured, from left front row, are  parent Cheryl Guth, John Howarth, Chelsea Falsey and Amy Chesnut. Back row are paraprofessional Jennicey Zitti and behavior technician Victory Batson-Phinn.  

Thirteen  students from St. Lucie County participated in the recent 57th Annual State Science Fair in Lakeland, the largest academic competition in the State of Florida.  Over 820 students statewide  participated in the event hosted by  the Florida Foundation for Future Scientists (FFFS).  FFFS  is a statewide, non-profit organization authorized by the 1957 Legislature of the State of Florida to discover scientific and technical talent in the schools of Florida and to encourage the pursuit of careers in science and engineering. Students from St. Lucie County participated and received awards/ recognition  in the following categories at the State Science Fair event:  … Read More

Eighth graders in Janet Clayman’s culinary careers class at Forest Grove Middle School recently attended a career exploration field trip to Indian River State College Culinary Institute at the Mueller Campus in Vero Beach. Lisa Lamarre, Academic Coordinator and Chef Deborah Midkiff lead a discussion on eating nutritiously by making informed food choices. The students participated in adding condiments to a salad in which they had to figure the total number of calories. Malik Thompson was awarded an apron for calculating the correct number of calories. The IRSC culinary students prepared and served a healthy lunch. The students were given … Read More

St. Lucie West Centennial High School junior Lauren King has published her first novel entitled  A Flower Named Rose. It is a teen romance in which the protagonist, a princess, flees to escape an arranged marriage. Her hope is that on her journey she will find happiness. The publisher is createspace.com, and the book may be ordered from Amazon.com.

Manatee Academy K8 students, from left, Crystal Fissette, Serona Brown, Michael Pecora, Tia Camp, and Naiah James were chosen to represent the school in the All County Elementary Chorus. Attached is a link to the performance which will air on WLX-TV, the St. Lucie County Education Channel, at various times. http://www.stlucie.k12.fl.us/MediaServicesVideos/ACC_2012_WEB.wmv

 Fifty two cadets from the St. Lucie West Centennial High School JROTC visited the Fort Pierce Coast Guard station recently.  The cadets saw the  facilities, toured the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Blue Fin, got “underway” aboard the forty-five foot high speed patrol boat for a ride out to the Atlantic, and toured the other patrol craft the stations uses on a regular basis.  The cadets gained a real understanding of what it is like to be a member of the Coast Guard and what it means to live by their motto of “Semper Paratus,” or always ready.