The VIEW

Wakulla Middle School News

February 2005

Wakulla Middle School begins the second semester with great enthusiasm. With one successful semester already behind us, our students and staff are busy preparing for the many upcoming challenges the second half of the year brings.

Our Principal, JoAnn Daniels was one of a few principals chosen to attend the Commissioner's Summit for Principals in Tampa on January 18th and 19th. The summit was presented by the Department of Education and Florida Association of School Administrators. The Summit for Principals purpose was to gather Florida's finest school administrators together to discuss the greatest needs facing Florida's instructional leaders. As experts within the field the input of the principals helped form the framework for addressing the future of Florida's schools.

Wakulla Middle School added a new exploratory for the second semester. Mrs. Deborah Randle will sponsor the new Activettes exploratory. Activettes is a service group that will study African-American culture, social skills and proper conduct. Mrs. Vera Harvey, from the county extension office, is assisting Mrs. Randle with this activity. Congratulations are also in order for Mrs. Randle who was selected for inclusion in the eighth edition of Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 2004. Mrs. Randle was nominated by a former student and is certainly deserving of this honor. Ms. Young's exploratory, EGO, formerly known as Grrrl Power, recently enjoyed visits by two Tallahassee attorneys, Ms. Victoria Heuler and Ms. Elizabeth Ricci. Heuler and Ricci shared why they became interested in practicing law, what courses best helped prepare them for college, the importance of setting goals, and acting and dressing professionally.

EGO, along with Cloud and Snow Leopards had the wonderful opportunity to hear local Bluegrass artist, Carrie Hamby, perform songs from her CD, Stand Up Eight. The songs performed were all written by Ms. Hamby and dealt with environmental concerns, local history, and science topics.

Ms. Young's U.S. History classes received an insightful lecture on the Constitution by Mr. A. DeFoor II. Along with his lecture, he also shared the myriad of ways being an attorney has helped him serve his state and local community. Besides currently heading Governor Bushes' Everglades Commission, Mr. DeFoor also shared some of his past experiences which include being a prosecutor, public defender, sheriff, professor, and author of ten books.

Congratulations to the following students who were winners in our annual school Spelling Bee: 6th grade - 1st place Samantha Moyer, 2nd place Conner Harrison, 3rd place Kaleigh Gipson; 7th grade - 1st place Michael Martin, 2nd place Rebecca Shiver, 3rd place Patricia Sparby; 8th grade - 1st place Julian Egler, 2nd place Dylan Andrews, 3rd place Donna Longfellow. Julian Egler was also crowned the school champion and Samantha Moyer was the runner-up. In the district competition, however, Dylan Andrews took home 1st place and will represent Wakulla County at the Regional Spelling Bee. Wakulla Middle School's annual Geography Bee was held in January. Sixth grader Eric Parks won 1st place, Ryan Floyd took 2nd while John Carter placed 3rd. In addition to the previous competitions, WMS held its annual science fair in December. The first place winners were Tyler Griner - Botany category, Nabil Fayed - Earth Science category, Michael Richardson - Biology category, Kyle Craze - Chemistry category, Brett Metcalf - Consumer Science category, Kelsey Alyea - Behavioral/Social category, Jordyn Brooks - Health Science, Lauren Gentry and Patrick Lima - Engineering category, Julian Egler - Environmental Science category, Shelli McDonald, Mathematics category, and Alyssa Show - Physics category. Winning Best of Show was Tyler Griner from Mrs. Madden's class.

In December, three WMS students, Neo Leynes, Sarah Becker and Betsy Kate Bartnick, were among the students chosen to visit the Governor's Mansion as part of First Lady Columba Bush's "Expanding Technology in Schools" project. Neo Leynes was chosen to be the Master of Ceremonies for this event. He introduced Mrs. Bush and gave the overview for the day's activities. Neo received a Commemorative coin from Mrs. Bush as a thank you. Our principal, Mrs. Daniels, who helped organize the event, was given a Roman Art print. Carol Belancsik, our art teacher, also attended and will receive a new Lexmark color photo printer for her classroom.

The Wakulla Wildcat Boys and Girl basketball teams both enjoyed successful seasons. The two teams ended up county champs as the boys ended their season with an 8-7 record and the girls finished 7-7. Congratulations to Coach Sandgren, Coach Pace and all the assistant coaches and players. Both seasons wouldn't have been possible without the support of our WMS cheerleaders. A big thanks goes out to Coach Bryan and members of the squad.

Congratulations to Terry Price for being selected as Wakulla Middle School Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Price is a great asset to our school and we are proud to have her working with us.

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