It has been announced that Volusia County Schools will continue to operate the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program for the 2024-25 school year. All school sites in the Volusia County School District qualify to operate CEP.
This program eliminates the collection of family-income applications for free and reduced-price meals and ensures all students receive a nutritious breakfast and lunch each day at no charge.
Students attending Ivy Hawn Charter School, Pace Center for Girls, Richard Milburn Academy West and Richard Milburn Academy East will also continue to receive meals for free.
Directly certified families enrolled in state-assistance programs will still receive their eligibility letter for after-school care and VPK benefits.
For more information, contact School Way Cafe by calling 386-734-7190, ext. 50832, or emailing swaycafe@volusia.k12.fl.us.
The Volusia County School Transportation Department is hiring bus operators and bus attendants. Walk-in interviews will take place 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays, July 8 and 22, at 1648 Hancock Blvd. in Daytona Beach.
Visit vcsedu.org for more information.
Through FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools, each secondary school is able to honor a student at each grade level who has shown a dramatic achievement/improvement in at least two of the following areas: attendance, attitude (marked by reduction in numbers of referrals), grades (not necessarily the highest grades) and citizenship (school involvement). This is what is used in selecting Turn Around Awards recipients yearly at these middle and high schools.
For the middle schools in West Volusia: DeLand Middle School – Brooklyn Williams, Davon Singletary and Deyron Clayton; Deltona Middle – Gabriella Rampersad, Naomi-Grace Salisu and Jayden Carroll; Galaxy Middle in Deltona – Jacob Rodriguez, Bryan Olivencia and Jeilyn Morales Encarnacion; Heritage Middle in Deltona – Scott Tappan, Camila Velaquez and Ava Watson; Highbanks Learning Center in DeBary – Elias Carlone; River Springs Middle in Orange City – Jaxsonn Frank, Emily Calle Pallasco and Hector Rodriguez; Southwestern Middle in DeLand – Darrionae Hill, Ian Franco, Julian Itheir Brana, Kenneth Torres, Lyric Fitzpatrick and Ke’shaun Givens; Taylor Middle in Pierson – Jimmy Hurtado Ortega and Zachary Hall; and Volusia Online Learning – Xavier Medina, James Bolling and Faith Wright.
Those honored on the high-school level in West Volusia are: DeLand High School – Hadley Hyatt, Jaedyn Gaines, Tramund Robinson and Jordan Orbes; Deltona High – Nazaiah Thomas, Shyloe Mitchell, Trey Vazquez and Milla Osterman; Highbanks Learning Center in DeBary – Ariana Campos and Jamil Gonzalez Rosado; Pine Ridge High in Deltona – Jamai Tanner, Bruce Hipsher, Cameron Kuzik and Da’Neek Johnson; Taylor High in Pierson – Leah Zook, Jonathan Melgar Torres, Vanessa Aaguilar-Bueno and Chansadie Lebron; University High in Orange City – Deion Fudge, Colin Winter, Sebastian Lara and Suleika Anglade; and Volusia Online Learning – Roberto Rosado, Richard Vega, Zion Forrest and Alyssa Harden.
The DeLand Regional Library will host its monthly book sale 3-5 p.m. Friday, July 12, and 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, July 13. This sale is through the efforts of the Friends of the Library. Proceeds support children, youth and adult programs, plus the Summer Reading Program.
Volusia County Schools
With graduation completed, Volusia County Schools has released some data about the Class of 2024. There were more than 4,000 graduations this year, more than 900 scholar designations, and nearly 2,300 industry scholar designations.
More than 300 grads earned the Florida Seal of Biliteracy, 114 earned an A.A. or A.S. degree, and more than 125 entered military service, while the class earned more than 245,000 hours of community service.
Galaxy Middle School
Steve Woide, who teaches at Galaxy Middle School in Deltona, has earned his 30-year service pin.
Southwestern Middle School
In DeLand, Southwestern Middle School’s new principal Dr. Tai Swift has scheduled a Meet and Greet for Southwestern families and the DeLand community 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday, July 11, in the media center.
Stetson University Athletics
Stetson University freshman baseball player Kyle Jones has been named a finalist for the 2024 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division 1 Golden Glove Team.
Stetson men’s tennis player Tim Gennes has been named to the 2023-24 Atlantic Sun Conference Spring Winners for Life Team. This team is composed of student-athletes from each of the conference’s 14 schools, who display excellence on and off the playing field. The team honors a campus citizen who is respected as one who shares and demonstrates the ASUN core values of education, honesty, student-athlete experience, fairness, health, ambition, respect, diversity, inclusion, leadership, responsibility and sportsmanship.
Former Stetson men’s soccer player Owen Jack has signed a short-term contract with the Birmingham, Alabama, Legion FC (football club) in the United Soccer League.
College honors
Kat Blazetic, a graduate of DeLand High School who is majoring in business administration, has been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2024 semester at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
India Sapp, of DeLand, has earned a Bachelor of Science from the College of Health Professions at Mercer University in Georgia.
Daniela Martinez, of DeLand, has been named to the dean’s list for the spring 2024 semester at Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York. Martinez is in the studio arts program.
Shane Rodriguez, of DeLand, has been named to the dean’s list and the Chancellor’s List for the spring 2024 semester at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.
Braiam Rosado Ramos, of Deltona, has graduated from Mississippi State University with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Meagan Schachter, of DeLand, was named to the spring 2024 dean’s list.
