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The Volusia County School Board recently recognized the winning entries in the 2021 Crime Stoppers Poster Contest. The Grand Prize winner for the 7th Judicial Circuit and the first-place winner in the elementary division was Kaylina Rodriguez, a third-grader at Enterprise Elementary School, with Destini Solano of Enterprise Elementary coming in second, and Isis De La Rosa Berrios of Friendship Elementary in Deltona taking third.
Brianna Parsons of Taylor Middle-High in Pierson took third in the middle-school division, while DeLand High student Logan Laguer took first in the high-school division, and Anya Raymond of DeLand High took second.
Volusia County Schools has recognized 10 administrators for graduating from the Principal Intern Program. Those from West Volusia were Eilene Ahr of Starke Elementary in DeLand, Holly Bailey of Blue Lake Elementary in DeLand, Nicholas Fidance of Heritage Middle in Deltona, Kristina Kania of Sunrise Elementary in Deltona, Paul Struska of McInnis Elementary in DeLeon Springs, and Dr. Eidie Velez of Friendship Elementary in Deltona.
The Volusia County School District will face a district accreditation review in the spring of 2022 by Cognia, a nonprofit accrediting organization for K-12 schools. The goal of accreditation is to evaluate, verify and improve a school district’s quality. The process is an external audit of a district’s school-improvement processes and is conducted every five years.
All VCS stakeholders will be involved in the process, which will include review of documentation, surveys, interviews and walk-through observations at schools.
Woodward Avenue Elementary School
Woodward Avenue Elementary School in DeLand has announced the possible return of single-gender classes in kindergarten through third grade for the 2021-22 school year. If your child is attending Woodward in the fall and you would like your child to be considered for a single-gender class (all boys or all girls), contact the school. Applications are due prior to June 29, 2021.
The Woodward family would like to congratulate Cyd Snider on her retirement. She has dedicated more than 30 years to the school.
DeLand High School
DeLand High School’s FFA program has won some FFA state competitions. DHS student Nicolas Bordeaux received the highest score in Florida in the Agricultural Technical Mechanical Systems event, which included welding, electrical wiring and small-engine competition.
The DHS FFA Livestock Team took first place in the Livestock Evaluation Career
Development Event. The team members are Megan Christopher, Payton Smith, Tyler Watson and Cheyanne Wilkins, and the agriscience teachers are Brett Brandner and Lori Smith.
Pine Ridge High School
Pine Ridge High School in Deltona congratulates two students for outstanding efforts: Ella Wakelyn had the highest SAT School Day score, and Jamie Rachal had a perfect math score on the PERT test.
Pine Ridge junior Kailah Lalanne placed third in the Volusia Select 2021 High School Exhibition at Harris House in New Smyrna Beach. Kirsten JnBaptiste and Elijah Wilson also displayed their artwork at the show. Their art teacher at Pine Ridge is Karen Richter.
Stetson University athletics
The Stetson University football team has a new head coach, Brian Young, who becomes the 10th head coach of Hatter football. Young had served as the defensive coordinator for the Hatters prior to going to his alma mater Georgia Southern University a year ago.
Previously at Stetson, Young also worked with the special teams and was the staff liaison to pro scouts and to postseason all-star games. He also has coached at Cornell University, as well as spending some time coaching in the NFL.
After 25 years at the helm of the Stetson University softball program, head coach Frank Griffin has announced his retirement. He compiled a record of 761-552 during his quarter century in the Stetson dugout. This included 20 appearances in ASUN softball tournaments, two regular-season titles, two conference tournament championships and the program’s first two appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
Griffin was inducted into the Stetson Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. His 32-year coaching tenure had him amassing 981 career victories.
The Stet son women’s rowing team, which placed third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, had 14 student-athletes named to the MAAC Women’s Rowing All-Academic Team. To be eligible for the team, a student must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale.
College honors
Kalei Burgess and Jacob Zuluaga, both of Deltona, were named to the spring 2021 dean’s list at The University of Alabama, while Petar Nikolic, also of Deltona, was named to the President’s List at the school.
India Sapp, of DeLand, a sophomore in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, has been named to the President’s List for the spring 2021 semester. Ethan Werblo, of Orange City, a junior in the School of Business at Mercer, was named to the spring 2021 semester dean’s list.
— Send school news to Tony Tussing via email: at flacoach43@hotmail.com.
