Seventh grade critical thinking students at Paxton worked with local business owners to create a custom soap mold for an upscale bed and breakfast. Watch the video to see a snapshot of how they used the engineering design process and 3D printing to bring their creation to life! Special thanks to Dave Palmer of the Florida Farmer’s Market and Ann Shanklin of The Lake House for allowing these students to assist in this real world project.  

Submitted by Heather Stewart

Main Photo - Mrs. Ford's FES kindergarten students participated in STEM activities to build dino-caves for their dinosaurs and measure large footprints using non-standards forms of measurement.

Photo Below - Dinosaur Day was a day to remember!!! Today, we became paleontologist and we created vest and hats! Then, We learned about herbivores and carnivores. We were able to identify how they are similar and how they are different. Each student got to pick their favorite dinosaur and decorate it and graph it! Our favorite part of the day was when each student got a chocolate chip cookie and picked out the fossils! Finally, I loved our writings... “if you had a dinosaur I would”...the students were very creative! Each student loved our Jurassic Park set up!!!  Submitted by Nancy Currie

A non-profit based in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, Food for Thought has worked to fight child hunger throughout Walton and Okaloosa Counties since 2010, providing 3,000 backpacks weekly that are filled with healthy ingredients for students who are dependent on free or reduced school meals.

With the support of a three-year $125,000 grant from the Emeril Lagasse Foundation, Food for Thought launched its Full Circle Kitchen program in September of last year. Offered to high schoolers enrolled in Food for Thought, the program introduces students to fundamental cooking skills through classes taught by community restaurant partners and local chefs.

Walton Academy High school senior Lucy Lopez and junior Donnell Reed are two students benefiting from the program’s efforts to provide youth a foundation for basic cooking skills and access to kitchen equipment in a safe learning environment.

You can read more at: http://emeril.org/spotlight-full-circle-kitchen-students-lucy-lopez-and-donnell-reed

Submitted by David Schmidt

On Friday, May 11^th students from Mrs. Gina Ealum’s WDE class participated in the Special Olympics at ECMS. Students placed in many events and we are proud to announce the following awards:

Autumn Patterson (4^th grade) – 1^st place 50m dash; 1^st place 100m dash; 6^th place shot put

Tyler Penn (5^th grade) – 1^st place Long Jump; 3^rd place 50m dash; 3^rd place 100m dash

Demonte’ Clark (3^rd grade) – 1^st place 50m dash; 1^st place 100m dash; 2^nd place softball throw

Congratulations to these students for their amazing accomplishments!

Submitted by Jessica Dawkins.