Paxton Baseball Has Another EPIC Season
May 23, 2019
The Bobcat family would like to congratulate the Paxton baseball team on another amazing season and their THIRTEENTH consecutive district championship. Submitted by Kalli McMillan
Trevor Simpler is recent graduate of Walton High School, but before he graduated Monday night, over the weekend Trevor competed in the Special Olympics Florida 2019 Summer Games at the Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Trevor participated in the 1500m run and the 800m run athletic events, receiving a Silver medal for the 1500m and a Gold medal for the 800m.
Trevor has been a Special Olympics Florida Walton County athlete for the past nine (9) years. He has participated in stand up paddle, powerlifting, bowling, swimming, and basketball. Trevor has competed in all of these sports at state level at some point in the nine (9) years, and has received from a bronze to gold medals in these events.
As an ESE student within Walton High School, Trevor has worked hard over the past 5 years to get to that amazing moment of graduation. There have been struggles along the way, but he overcame, and walked across that stage on Monday night with pride.
Trevor will continue growing as a person and an athlete within Special Olympics Florida Walton County over the summer by practicing for stand up paddle and swimming and hopefully preparing to compete at State level again.
Congratulations to Trevor Simpler for both his graduation, and his success at the Special Olympics Summer games!
Thanks to Jennifer Barber with Special Olympics Florida for the article and pictures!
Ms. Thomas’s class at West DeFuniak Elementary was introduced to the life changing impact of wind power using a Lego STEAM challenge and a bit of inspired reading. Their class read “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, which is the story of William Kamkwamba. William grew up in a small village in Malawi that was devastated by famine and drought. Forced to leave school, he used donated books in the village library to teach himself how to build a windmill and create electricity. He was responsible for providing his village access to electricity for the first time ever.
Inspired by William’s story, the students were given a challenge to build wind racers, or wind powered cars that could be used for transportation in remote areas where there is not access to other fuel sources. They could only use Legos, a 4x5 piece of paper for the sail, and a biodegradable straw as their mast. Students collaborated with one another in teams of two to create unique team names, design their sails, and construct their wind powered cars. Then, they took the challenge one step further by racing their cars to see which design would be able to transport valuable resources between locations the fastest. Students learned how the weight, height, balance, durability, and other characteristics of their projects affected the distance and speed they were able to travel. The winning design was able to travel three yards in under twelve seconds!
Submitted by Jessica Dawkins
Group: (Top Row Left to Right) Heaven Hogans, Cathy-Mae Fullwiler, Garrett Hansen, Kenneth Ingram, Zoey McHenry, Dakota Day (Middle Row Left to Right) Hayden Dunham, Zanieh Stuckey, Trey Simmons, Karma Olson-Morgan, Madison Melcher (Bottom Row Left to Right) Garrett Frymire, Tyler Betts, Tyler Baker.
Winning Team: Zoey McHenry & Dakota Day
WDE 3rd Grade Students Study Economics!
May 23, 2019
Ms. Thomas’s class at West DeFuniak Elementary has been learning about economics and how it affects people. As a culminating project to their economics unit, students had the opportunity to become producers and consumers by participating in a classroom marketplace. Students designed each of their own shops by coming up with a shop name, slogan, commercial script, product description, product price, interest inventory, and consumer comment box. Their products could only be made from paper and each student had a consumer spending log to keep track of how much money they had left to spend. Students were able to apply their knowledge of supply and demand, scarcity, and trading to successfully sell out of each of their products. Students took their roles seriously and came away with a real sense of accomplishment!
Submitted by Jessica Dawkins
Our Board and Superintendent are all smiles with excitement to see the culmination of great student and school success at our High School Graduations. We are WCSD Proud!
On May 9, 2019, Ms. April Wilkes, Executive Director of The St. Joe Community Foundation, presented a $20,000 check to the Walton Middle School football program. Coach Dennie Smith wrote the grant in hopes of upgrading training and safety equipment for the team. The gear the team has been using is outdated and in short supply, so Coach Smith set out on a mission to upgrade the equipment to reduce the risk of concussion or serious injury to his players. So far, the program has purchased the following: a five man sled to help improve blocking, a one man tackling sled to help improve tackling, better helmets to protect from injury, integrated practice pants, protective pads, and a medical kit. Over the next year, the coaching staff will continue to use the funds to make improvements to their program. WMS can't thank Ms. Wilkes and The St. Joe Foundation enough for their generous support of the school's football team. Go Warriors! Submitted by Kristen Nelson
Seacoast High School students Knoxye Grinstead, Reagan Wells, Mary Katherine Rookis, and Sierra Smith were recognized at the Walton County School Board meeting Tuesday evening, May 21, 2019, for their First Place winning performance at the Florida History Day state competition.
The theme for this year's competition was Triumph and Tragedy in History. The Seacoast High School team performed an original courtroom setting skit about the Triumphs and Tragedies of the Lowell Mills Factory system. They will represent the state of Florida at the National History Day competition held at the University of Maryland, June 9-13, 2019.
Photo credit: Jenna Bailey
Congratulations to the WHS Class of 2019!
May 21, 2019
Congratulations to Walton High’s Class of 2019! Thank you to everyone that came to support these seniors at the graduation ceremony Monday night (May 20). "Once a Brave, always a Brave!” Submitted by Christy English
Students of the Month Update In10Sity Graffiti Wall!
May 20, 2019
Mr. D’Avignon, Principal at In10Sity Magnet School, supervising the students of the month draw their graffiti on the magnet graffiti board.
Submitted by James Pittman
Freeport High School finished first place in the FHSAA’s Academic Team Championship points total for 1A, thus making them STATE CHAMPIONS! The FHSAA Academic Team Champion recognition program honors teamwork not only in competition, but in the classroom as well. The program recognizes teams in each of the Association’s sanctioned and recognized sports, naming an Academic Team Champion in each classification. Congratulations to the entire faculty and staff and all of the dedicated student-athletes for earning this prestigious honor. Submitted by Patty Woodard