ROYAL COURT AT THE CINDERELLA BALL — Here is the Royal Court at the May 5 Cinderella Ball, attended by West Volusia middle-school students at the Chisholm Community Center in DeLand. The event was a fundraiser for Temple Learning Center Summer Camp. From left are Duke Andrew Wilson, an eighth-grader from River Springs Middle School in Orange City; Duchess Natasha Mahmoud, a seventh-grader from Southwestern Middle in DeLand; King Jeremy Ragon, an eighth-grader from River Springs Middle; Queen Isabella Huck, a sixth-grader from Southwestern; Prince Ernest Harris, an eighth-grader from River Springs Middle; and Princess Bradaijai Dunn, a sixth-grader from Southwestern. Temple Learning Center Summer Camp provides children ages 5-14 a great opportunity to participate in wonderful activities. Applications can be found at volusia.org/scs. The 10-week program starts Monday, June 5. Parents can sign up their youngsters at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of DeLand, 1401 W. New York Ave. PHOTO BY CRAIG KENNEDY

DeLand High School now has a full-time principal, as Mike Degirolmo has had the interim portion of his title removed, and the Volusia County School Board has made him the principal of DeLand High. He has carried the interim portion of the title for about five months after Dr. Melissa Carr transferred to a county staff position.

Degirolmo started working in Volusia County Schools back in 1998, when he started as a teacher’s assistant at Blue Lake Elementary School in DeLand. He served as an assistant principal at Southwestern Middle School in DeLand, before moving to DeLand High as an assistant principal.

Graduation is here! Thursday, June 1, is graduation for Volusia Online students at 4 p.m., followed by DeLand High at 7:30 p.m. that evening.

Saturday, June 3, has Deltona High graduating at 12:30 p.m., followed by Pine Ridge at 4 p.m. On Sunday, June 4, Taylor Middle-High marches at noon, followed by Orange City University at 4 p.m. All of these ceremonies are at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

There is no school Monday, May 29, so everyone can observe Memorial Day. After that holiday, the summer holiday begins at the end of the day Friday, June 2, for students, while teachers will be in school through Tuesday, June 6.

Bridgette Gordon has had her jersey retired at both DeLand Middle and DeLand High. She went on to play basketball at the University of Tennessee for Pat Summitt. Some of her college honors included being named Southeastern Conference (SEC) Scholar Athlete and SEC Female Athlete of the Year and Player of the Year.

In 1989, Gordon became the UT all-time leading scorer (male or female), the NCAA all-time leading scorer with 2,462 points and with 338 steals, two-time conference most valuable player of the year, and two-time Kodak and Naismith All-American, while leading UT to two national titles.

Since her playing days ended, Gordon has been inducted into the Tennessee “Lady Vols” Hall of Fame, the 25th NCAA Anniversary Team, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, and the “Legends of the Final Four.”

In 1990, she had her college jersey, No. 30, retired by the University of Tennessee, the first Black athlete to have their jersey retired at UT.

Volusia County school happenings

FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools recently honored more than 80 middle- and high-school students for being named “Turn-Around” students.

Forty-four students from 19 Volusia County schools received All-State honors in the areas of orchestra, chorus, band and elementary music.

Volusia County Schools had 223 students invited to apply for College Board National Recognition Programs. To be invited, these students demonstrated exceptional achievement based on their performance on the PSAT/NMSQT, PSAT 10 and AP assessments. The deadline for applying is June 12; apply at bigfuture.org/recognition.

Orange City University High had 47 invites, while DeLand High had 37, Pine Ridge 27, Deltona 18 and Taylor Middle-High six.

Two elementary-school students from West Volusia were named winners of the Waterford.org Elementary Reading Challenge: Cindy Verdi of Sunrise Elementary in Deltona, and Taryn Medeiros of Timbercrest Elementary, also in Deltona.

DeLand High School

DeLand High School had 127 students in agriculture who passed 149 Agricultural Certification Industry Exams this school year.

DeLand High’s CTE agriculture teacher Brett Brandner has been named a finalist for the 2023 Timothy H. Cribbs FFA Advisor of the Year Award. He is in the running with four others representing Branford, Dixie, Lafayette and South Sumter high schools. The purpose of the FFA Advisor of the Year Award is to recognize educators who have made a positive difference in the lives of their students. They must have taught for at least three years and have provided outstanding service to their FFA chapter, agricultural industry and agricultural education.

The Bulldog Football Booster Club wants all to know that coach Rick Darlington is requiring the Bulldog football team to maintain their locker room and the visitors’ locker rooms, with the idea of leaving it better than you got it. Also, he implemented the Teacher of Impact Program, in which players can nominate teachers who have had an impact on them.

Deltona High School

The woodworking class under the direction of Keith Wallace at Deltona High School has built a family work station for the Deltona Regional Library. The “corral” will have a computer and a space where parents can corral their toddlers while the parents work on the computer. The Friends of the Deltona Library purchased the wood and materials for the students to build with and install.

Youth football

There are several different youth football programs in West Volusia. Each has age-group requirements, weight requirements and ZIP code requirements. Please check with the program requirements and the cost of the program before signing up.

West Volusia Little Hatters Youth Flag Football (ages 4-6) and Tackle Football (ages 7-14) are holding sign-ups. Go to wvlittlehatter.com for information, or call 386-624-8005. This is an AAU program with no ZIP code restrictions. The program will have a football camp at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 15, for ages 4-14 at the Lake Helen Sports Complex.

Another program is the DeLand Pop Warner Program. It will have a summer football conditioning program on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. June 13 through July 13 at DeLand Middle School. Register at www.delandpopwarner.com.

Stetson University Athletics

The Stetson University Lady Hatter softball team recently played host to the ASUN Tournament. The Stetson team lost in the first round to Austin Peay, 2-1, in the eighth inning.

In their last home appearance before playing host to the ASUN Baseball Tournament, the Stetson Hatter baseball team topped Jacksonville University, 9-2.

During this last regular home series, Stetson will honor the following seniors: David Bermudez, Trae Harmon, Brandon Hylton, Daniel Paret, Christian Pregent and Cameron Hill. The ASUN baseball championships are being played May 23-28 in Conrad Park.

The Stetson women’s tennis team played in the first-ever Universal Tennis National Invitational Tennis Championships in Atlanta May 17-20.

The Stetson men’s golf team played in the inaugural Golfweek National Golf Invitational May 19-21 at the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona.

The Lady Hatter lacrosse team has three members named to the ASUN All-Conference Second Team and one to the ASUN All-Freshman team. Mia Judd, Kaitlin Pani and Sydney Heimann were named to the Second Team, while Josie Young was named to the Freshmen Team.

College honors

Sydney Harp, of DeLand, has been named to the spring 2023 dean’s list at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The following students from West Volusia have been honored for their work at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester: Jody Bass, of DeLand, has been named to the winter 2023 dean’s list; and Haley Chester, of DeLand, and Corley Adams, Zach Smith, Bethany Green, Marcine Young and Joseph Swanson, all of Deltona, have been named to the winter 2023 President’s List. The winter terms run January-May.

Nicholas Christiano, of Deltona, has been named to the spring 2023 term Vice President’s List at Trine University in Angola, Indiana.

— Send school news to Tony Tussing via email: at flacoach43@hotmail.com.

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