Volusia County Schools has released the rehearsal and graduation schedules, as well as the dates of senior awards for each Volusia County school.
The senior award assemblies for high schools in West Volusia will be as follows: DeLand High, 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 30; Deltona High, 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23; Pine Ridge High in Deltona, 7 p.m. Thursday, May 25; Taylor Middle-High in Pierson, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 25; and University High in Orange City, 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18.
The rehearsal schedule for West Volusia high schools will be as follows: DeLand High, 3 p.m. Wednesday, May 31; Deltona High, 10:30 a.m. Thursday, June 1; Taylor Middle-High in Pierson, 1 p.m. Thursday, June 1; University High in Orange City, 8 a.m. Friday, June 2; Pine Ridge High in Deltona, 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 2; and Volusia Online (VOL), 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 30.
The graduation schedule is as follows: VOL, 4 p.m. Thursday, June 1; DeLand High, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 1; Deltona High, 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3; Pine Ridge High in Deltona, 4 p.m. Saturday, June 3; Taylor Middle-High in Pierson, noon Sunday, June 4; and University High in Orange City, 4 p.m. Sunday, June 4.
All rehearsals and graduations will take place at the Ocean Center, 101 N. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach, while all senior award assemblies will take place at each individual school.
Easterseals Northeast Central Florida will be offering another Empowerment Series “Special Kids, Special Families.” The May installment will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, with “Understanding Your Child’s Development” being the topic. The forum will take place at 125 N. Ridgewood Ave. in Daytona Beach.
Contact Donna Dwyer at ddwyer@esnecfl.org for more information.
Volusia County Schools has named Gary Blair as the VCS April Influencer. He is the mayor of Orange City, and has served as a teacher at DeLand Middle, Galaxy Middle in Deltona, Heritage Middle in Deltona and currently at University High School in Orange City.
Blair developed the Orange City Youth Council, which has put together Reading in the Park, painting a building at Valentine Park, and mulching for the city’s Halloween event. He started as an industrial-arts teacher and now prepares students for the workforce as a Diversified Career Technology and On the Job Training teacher.
Galaxy Middle School
The eighth-grade Science State Assessment will take place Tuesday, May 9, at Galaxy Middle School in Deltona.
DeLand High School
DeLand High School seniors are reminded to save Friday, May 12, for Senior Sunset at 6 p.m. More details will be forthcoming.
The Enchanted Evening Prom takes place Saturday, May 6, in Daytona Beach.
DeLand High cheerleading tryouts will be at 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, May 15-18, with a parent meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, May 8, in the DeLand High Cafe. Everyone trying out must have a sports physical on file.
Deltona High School
The School Advisory Council at Deltona High School will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, in the Learning Commons.
Deltona High School graduate Blake Hinson, who now is a junior forward basketball player at Pitt, is the 2023 Riley Wallace Award-winner, an honor presented by CollegeInsider.com. The award goes to the top transfer in Division I basketball. Hinson is a Second Team All-ACC selection, and has averaged 15 points and six rebounds per game.
Deltona High congratulates four students for being named Students of the Month: Darin Wong, Scholar of the Month; Kendall Donohue, Citizen of the Month; Brooke Brannan, Wolf of the Month; and Kevin Kerns, Athlete of the Month.
The school also recently honored five staff members: Tamarah Jones, Teacher of the Month; Emily Brown, Classroom of the Month; Heather Henderson, Spirit of the Month; Angel Ruiz Hernandez, Staff of the Month; and Mena Hana, Newcomer of the Month.
Pine Ridge High School
Senior Week at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona is Monday-Friday, May 8-12, with Senior Baccalaureate taking place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, at Cornerstone Church in Deltona.
Taylor Middle-High School
The basketball and weightlifting teams at Taylor Middle-High School in Pierson will have their season-ending banquet at 6 p.m. Monday, May 8.
University High School
Advanced Placement (AP) testing has been announced at University High School in Orange City. Testing is listed as AM or PM, with AM testing starting at 7:45 a.m. and PM testing beginning at 11:45 a.m. Students are to see their AP teachers for specific testing locations.
The tests are as follows: U.S. Government, Monday, May 1, at AM; English Lit, Wednesday, May 3, at AM; Macroeconomics, Thursday, May 4, at AM; Statistics, Thursday, May 4, at PM; Calc AB and BC, Monday, May 8, at AM; English Language, Tuesday, May 9, at AM; and Spanish, Wednesday, May 10, at AM.
The End of Course (EOC) testing schedule has all testing starting at 8:30 a.m. Again, students are to check their email for locations and dates.
Five Star Track Championships
The Five Star Conference Track Championships took place at Flagler Palm Coast High School, with FPC winning the boys’ division and Spruce Creek winning the girls’ title.
The DeLand High School girls were third overall, with Orange City University taking fifth, Pine Ridge of Deltona ninth, and Deltona 10th. On the boys’ side of the competition, Orange City University was seventh, DeLand eighth, Pine Ridge of Deltona ninth, and Deltona 10th.
The DeLand girls had three wins in four events. Sophomore Emily Lamb took first in the discus at 100 feet, 5 inches, and in the javelin with a 123-foot-10-inch heave, while also taking third in the high jump at 4 feet, 9 inches.
Freshman Anna Vandell won the high jump at 4 feet, 11 inches, while sophomore Kylie Neira won the pole vault at 11 feet, 9 inches.
Shamia Allen took second in the long jump with a 15-foot-9.75-inch effort, and placed fifth in the triple jump.
Lilly Clements was third in the discus while taking eighth in the shot put. Sierra West grabbed two fourths in the discus and shot put, and Amy Nguyen was fifth in the pole vault.
Sydney Neira earned sixth in the 800. The girls’ 4X8 relay took sixth, and the 4X4 came in second at 4:24.24.
The DeLand High boys found Jamil Cunningham taking fourth in the long jump and sixth in the 100 meters, with Riley Garrison placing fifth in the 3,200.
Owen York was seventh in the shot put and eighth in the discus. MJ Smokes was eighth in the shot put, and Frederick McCaskill was eighth in the 400 hurdles.
The boys’ 4X8 was third overall with a 8:22.16 time, while the 4X1 relay team came in fifth.
Orange City University was led by Nyrania Barr- Miller, who won the girls’ 200 meters at 25.35; she also placed second in the 400 at 58.77 and seventh in the long jump.
Morgan Northey placed third in the shot put with a push of 29 feet, 6 inches, and a sixth in the javelin.
Hannah Judge was sixth in the 1,600, with teammate Morgan Harvill taking seventh. Judge also was seventh in the 800. The 4X4 and the 4X8 relay teams took fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 4X1.
The University boys’ squad was led by Andreas Schulz, who took first in the adaptive shot put at 28 feet, 4.5 inches, and the adaptive 200 at 24.45.
Darrian Morris was second in the long jump at 20 feet, 9.75 inches, while Angel Barnes was second in the adaptive 200 at 29.82.
Corey Johnson grabbed third place in the 1,600 at 4:32.05 and fifth in the 800, while Royce Eggert was fourth in the 3,200 and sixth in the 1,600.
Jason Brown was seventh in the javelin, with Payton Rosamilia taking the same place in the 110 hurdles. The boys’ 4X4 was sixth, with the 4X1 taking seventh.
For Pine Ridge of Deltona, Tyler Haywood was sixth in the 110 hurdles, with Elijah Thompson sixth in the 200 and eighth in the 100 meters. Maya Heard was eighth in the 100 hurdles. The boys’ 4X1 relay was sixth, and the 4X8 was seventh; the girls’ 4X1 was fifth.
The Deltona High girls’ 4X1 relay team was fourth at 53.13.
DeLand High School Athletics
DeLand High School was represented by Jayden Lewis and Jaycee Kane at the FHSAA State Weightlifting Championships. Lewis took sixth in traditional lifting in the 183-pound class, while Kane was third in traditional lifting in the 199-pound class. Damion Dunn serves as the DeLand High Bulldog weightlifting coach.
The Bulldog baseball team was stopped by Merritt Island, 11-3, but topped Seabreeze, 4-2, with Lamar Edwards hitting a double.
The boys’ tennis team took fifth in FHSAA district competition, while the girls were sixth.
The beach-volleyball team lost to Matanzas, 3-2, while the softball team lost to Mainland, 3-2.
Stetson University
Chaz Underriner, Ph.D., assistant professor of digital arts at Stetson University, has been selected as a 2023-24 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to Austria.
The Princeton Review has named Stetson as one of the Top 50 undergraduate schools for game design in the nation. This makes two years in a row for the Stetson program.
Stetson University Athletics
The Stetson University beach-volleyball team split two matches, downing St. Thomas, 4-0, but losing to the No. 15 team Florida Atlantic, 4-1.
The lacrosse team lost to Liberty, 26-6, but outscored Delaware State, 21- 11, with Kaitlin Pani scoring five goals, while four were earned by Samantha Paglino.
The Hatter baseball team was stopped by Lipscomb, 6-4 and 15-22, before winning, 8-2, with Brandon Hylton hitting a home run.
The softball team lost to Liberty, 7-0 and 6-5, but won the third game, 8-7.
On Tuesday, May 2, the baseball team meets USF at 6:30 p.m. in Conrad Park.
College honors
Veronica Marin, of DeLand, has been named to the 2023 winter dean’s list at Palmer College of Chiropractic’s Florida Campus in Port Orange.
— Send school news to Tony Tussing via email: at flacoach43@hotmail.com.
