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STEM Symposium in Pensacola

January 27, 2020

It is an EPIC day at the STEM symposium in Pensacola.  Carrie Sneed, Christine Petersen, and Alecia Hogans attended the STEM Symposium in Pensacola. They are excited to bring some EPIC ideas back to Walton County teachers and students.

This two-day event hosted by Discovery Education and Santa Rosa County Public Schools focused on how to create a shared STEM vision, provide professional development to educators and administrators, and cultivate inquiry-based, transdisciplinary instruction to prepare students for their future.

Congratulations to Sydni Free and Olivia Mixon of Freeport High School for advancing to the regional weightlifting meet. Sydni finished 1st and Olivia finished 6th at the class 1A District 2, girls weightlifting meet at Arnold High School. 

FHS Weightlifting competition winners

Mr. Stephen Byrd's instructional style proves that literacy matters in the career and technical subjects.  Students in Mr. Byrd's eighth grade ICT class recently learned to create simple web pages using HTML code by engaging in a paired programming activity.  In paired programming, one partner carefully reads aloud the task instructions for creating the web page, while the other partner listens and responds, creating the web page as they go.  In this hands-on lesson, students learn the importance of both reading carefully and listening closely, else their website creations will veer far off course.  At different points in the lesson, students switch roles so everyone gets to experience the reading, listening, and creating aspects of the assignment.  After this introductory lesson, students will delve into deeper detail about web design (colors, aesthetics, placement, alignment, proximity, etc.) throughout the unit, testing at the end to earn their industry certification in web design.  Mr. Byrd does an excellent job of building students' literacy and listening skills while equipping them with high-demand technology competencies.

Cover photo - A.J. Lardiere reads instructions for creating a web page, while Kyla Brown listens and follows along step-by-step.

WMS Byrd

Noah McKnight and Grace Bell practice paired programming.

WMS Byrd

Rolly Benitez and Gunner Sharp make a great team, showing off their completed web page.

Magnet Innovation Center!

January 26, 2020

Students at the Magnet Innovation Center are hard at work in their Principles of Engineering class designing, building and executing their latest projects. 
Sophia Roessler and Emily Sidrony are working on designing, Blake Stevenson, Tray Toups and Davis Cleveland are building and Dalton Robinson is executing his project in the world of virtual reality to see if all components in his design are working effectively so he can move into the building stage.
MIC students building
MIC student with VR headset

Walton High's FBLA participated in the 2019-2020 FBLA District 1 competition at the University of West Florida on January 23 and won 19 awards, with 17 students placing fifth or above. At this time, at least six members are going to the state convention in Orlando March 12-15. Two other district awards were won by Jordan Young (for Outstanding Member) and Taylor Grace (for Who's Who).

WHS FBLA District

WHS FBLA

Walton High School’s Culinary 1 students recently received hands-on experience with our Food Service Director, Robert Martin, in the Walton High School cafeteria and kitchen. Receiving goods and determining if anything needs to be rejected are important skills in the food service industry. Mr. Martin provided students with an invoice and products to examine, while Culinary Arts teacher Ms. Spice took students to check on the temperatures in the walk-in cooler and freezer as well as the rotation of goods in the store room.

WHS Culinary with Robert Martin

WHS Culinary with Robert Martin

WHS Culinary with Robert Martin

Walton County School District celebrated all those selected as school based 2019-2020 Teacher of the Year and Educational Support Professional of the Year tonight at the annual TOY/ESPOY Awards Ceremony!

We are proud to announce our 2019-2020 WCSD Teacher of the Year, Jeannine Abadie, from Emerald Coast Middle School! Huge Congratulations to Ms Abadie, math specialist at ECMS!!! We look forward to your representation of our EPIC District in the coming year!

Congratulations also to our new WCSD Educational Support Professional of the Year, Lisbeth "Anne" Turner, from Freeport High School! Thanks for all you have done to help so many at FHS, and in the Freeport Community!

Selected as the 2019-2020 WCSD Assistant Principal of the Year was Mr. Scott Hulion, Assistant Principal at Walton Middle School! Way to go, Mr. Hulion! Mr. Hulion is an exemplary Administrator, and a tremendous asset to Walton Middle School and the WCSD!

Assistant principal of the year

Selected as the 2019-2020 WCSD Principal of the Year is Dr. Alexis Tibbetts, Principal at South Walton High School! Congratulations to Dr. Tibbetts for her incredible accomplishments at SWHS! Under her leadership, the SeaHawks have doubled in numbers and soared in academic excellence!

Teacher of the year 2019-2020

Special thanks to St. Joe Community Foundation for their support of our event, and the very generous monetary award presented to our Teacher of the Year and ESP of the Year!  
St Joe and TOY 2019-2020

Another very special event of the evening was the presentation by 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year, Meredith Ness, of a framed copy of the Congressional Record recognizing Ms. Jeannine Abadie as WCSD Teacher of the Year, and Ms. Lisbeth Turner as WCSD Educational Support Professional of the Year by the Hon. Matt Gaetz.  

Meredith Ness at TOY

Our Walton County School Board members and Superintendent Hughes are hard at work this week advocating for our students and teachers at the 33rd Annual Day in the Legislature in Tallahassee, Florida!
#AmazingLeadership #WCSB #EPICSuperintendent #Advocacy #MakingtheConnections
33rd Annual Day in the Legislature
Standing: L to R:
Marsha Winegarner; William Eddins; Senator Gainer; Jason Catalano;
Seated: Kim Kirby
33rd Annual Day in the Legislature
Pictured L to R:
Marsha Winegarner; Kim Kirby; Representative Chris Latvala; Jason Catalano; William Eddins; Superintendent Russell Hughes
33rd Annual Day in the Legislature
Pictured L to R:
Jason Catalano;Marsha Winegarner; Rep. Brad Drake; Kim Kirby; William Eddins
Florida Space Day in the Capital
Florida Space Day in the Capitol!
School Board Members Marsha Winegarner; William Eddins; Jason Catalano; and Kim Kirby
33rd Annual Day in the Legislature
Pictured:
Marsha Winegarner; Kim Kirby; William Eddins; Jason Catalano
Chancellor Oliva and Dpt Chancellor Burns
Florida's Deputy Chancellor of Education, Paul Burns; William Eddins; Kim Kirby; Marsha Winegarner; Florida's Chancellor of Education, Jacob Oliva; Jason Catalano
33rd Annual Day in the Legislature

Congratulations to the following Walton High students for recently earning their Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certification!  This rigorous course is designed to help students achieve mastery in the use of Microsoft software applications, which will allow them to earn an internationally-recognized certification that will broaden post-secondary and employment opportunities.

Sarah Bush
Jenna Curtis
Alexander Duncan (Expert certification)
Jader Granja
Ashanti Hawkins
Chloe Hernandez
Lacey Hopper
Kanye Patrick
Brandon Pickard
John Powell
Latrell Shipman
Gillian Thepchantee
Kira Young (not pictured)
Beautiful Warner
Jaiden Willis

WHS MOS Certs

WHS MOS Certs

WHS MOS Certs