Class Notes: Volusia County Schools Counselors of the Year are selected

The Volusia County School Counselor Association has honored selected school counselors as School Counselors of the Year on the elementary-, middle-, high-school and alternative-education levels, while also including three school-counselor advocates.

Those selected as Counselors of the Year are Lisa Carter, DeLand High School; Beverly Gadson, Holly Hill School; Rachel Jefferis, Cypress Creek Elementary School in Port Orange; and Rosalind Little, Alternate Education.

The three school-counselor advocates honored are Dr. Scott Fitz, superintendent of Volusia County Schools; Dr. Eidie Velez, principal of Friendship Elementary School in Deltona; and Jessica Cacoilo, Extended Day Enrichment Program site facilitator at Cypress Creek Elementary.

On March 1, early registration for the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) program opened. Parents can register their children between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

The following elementary-school sites may be selected during registration: George Marks Elementary, DeLand; Spirit Elementary, Deltona; Westside Elementary, Daytona Beach; and Read-Pattillo Elementary, New Smyrna Beach.

VPK will operate 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, from June 12 through Aug. 4. Although breakfast and lunch are served free to all children, transportation is not provided.

To participate, a child must be 5 years old on or before Sept. 1, 2022; be a resident of Volusia County; and have a current valid Summer 2021 Certificate of Eligibility from the Early Learning Coalition of Flagler and Volusia (www.elcfv.org or 386-736-5010).

For more information on VPK, call 386-734-7190, ext. 20505, or visit https://www.vcsedu.org/VPK. On the left under menu, choose Voluntary Prekindergarten Summer.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Athletics hosted Food Brings Hope Night Feb. 9. Food Brings Hope KidsZone, TeenZone and FBHonors students attended the women’s and men’s basketball games that day at Embry-Riddle.

ERAU athletes from the baseball, golf, rowing and volleyball teams greeted the students as they arrived and served them pizza, juice and dessert. More than 500 students, sponsors, administrators and chaperones attended the games.

This year marks the 12th year that the ERAU Athletic Department and Food Brings Hope have partnered in hosting children involved in the FBH after-school programs. Each student was thrilled to receive his or her very own basketball at the conclusion of the event. As he was leaving, Roberto Pacheco from Pierson’s KidZone program said, “Thank you! This is the first basketball I ever had of my own!”

All the high schools in the Volusia County public-school system have determined when their Senior Awards Night will take place. For those in West Volusia, these are the times and dates: DeLand High, 7 p.m. May 23; Deltona High, 6 p.m. May 17; Pine Ridge High in Deltona, 7 p.m. May 19; Taylor Middle-High in Pierson, 6:30 p.m. May 19; and University High in Orange City, 6 p.m. May 18.

The Volusia County school calendar for March has students not in school Friday, March 11, which is a Teacher Duty Day, a student holiday, and the end of the third grading period.

On Monday, March 14, Spring Holiday begins; students will return to class Monday, March 21.

Early-release days for March include March 9, March 23 and March 30.

Report cards will be distributed Monday, March 28, which is the same day grades will appear on the Parent Portal.

DeBary Elementary School

DeBary Elementary School has selected Jordan Shasteen as its First-Year Teacher of the Year.

Friendship Elementary School

Friendship Elementary School in Deltona will have its Friendship Lucky Charm Dance 6-8 p.m. Thursday, March 10. All students must be accompanied by an adult/guardian, with no more than two adults/guardians per student/family.

The students will pay $1, while parents may attend for free. Pizza and soda will be sold at the event for $1 each.

George Marks Elementary School

On March 1, the first-graders at George Marks Elementary School in DeLand celebrated 100 Days of School. They mastered numbers 1-120 by completing 120-day projects and presenting them in a parade.

From 5 to 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, George Marks Elementary will celebrate literacy at the DeLand Regional Library with activities that include a scavenger hunt and learning about library resources. Each student will also get his or her library card.

Orange City Elementary School

Orange City Elementary School will have its spring Title I parent information meeting 4:30-5 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in the media center.

Heritage Middle School

Heritage Middle School in Deltona will have Mad Science Shows and Hands-On Discovery Stations at Science Night, 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, in the school cafeteria.

The event is free to all Heritage Middle School students, their families and positive role models. An adult must accompany all students attending.

As required by Mad Science, a mask must be worn.

Students will be able to make their own alginate worms, cell models, trebuchets, lab explorations and magnificent magnets.

The Daytona Beach Museum of Arts & Sciences is bringing its 30-foot-by-30-foot portable planetarium.

DeLand High School

If you’re a DeLand High School student and need a place to study, need tutoring or need to bring your grades up, you are encouraged to come to the DHS media center, which is open 3:30-5 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays. Tutoring will be available there, on specific scheduled days and times, in English/language arts, biology, chemistry, earth space environment, Spanish, algebra I and II, geometry, math mixed levels, reading, SAT Camp and other areas.

For more information, visit www.delandhs.org.

DHS seniors interested in taking the SAT on the In-School SAT Day, Wednesday, April 13, can register by going to https://tinyurl.com/yckjwwnn and completing payment by April 1. The cost is $55, but, for those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, the cost is $8.

The DeLand High School Academic Team gained three wins hosting the teams from Deltona High, Mainland, Atlantic, Pine Ridge, Spruce Creek, Seabreeze, New Smyrna Beach, Orange City University and Pierson Taylor. The DeLand team defeated Atlantic, 255-170; Mainland, 225-170; and University, 210-150.

Deltona was stopped by Spruce Creek, 230-225, and by Seabreeze, 295-185. University downed Atlantic, 175-150. Spruce Creek defeated University, 240-145.

Taylor outscored Mainland, 230-205, and Pine Ridge, 230-180. New Smyrna Beach defeated Taylor, 185-150; and Pine Ridge was topped by New Smyrna Beach, 305-120, and by Seabreeze, 240-175.

DeLand High School athletics

The DeLand High School competitive-cheer squad placed second in FHSAA regional competition, and finished fourth in the state competition in the medium coed division in Gainesville. This qualified them to go on to the Universal Cheer Association National at Walt Disney World.

The DeLand team competed against 43 teams from 32 states, and finished eighth overall. The squad also participated in Game Day competition, and finished ninth.

The squad is composed of Starling Bryant, Ava D’Aquino, Christian Lott, Alexis Feher, Morgan Schoolcraft, Adalyn Foster, Payton Hart, Allison Tran, Kacey Keeling, Annie Davidson, Camryn Daley, Kaylee Kennedy, Elyse Wilgers, James Arnaiz, Conner Hernandez, Anthony Medeiros, Sabastian Coley, Hailey Monahan, Annie Davidson, Niobe Adobe-Ortiz, Kylie Taylor, Geneva Medford, Ryan Keeling and Carsyn D’Aquino. The coach is Elizabeth Morgan.

The DeLand Bulldog boys’ weightlifting team recently played host to Atlantic, with the Bulldogs winning the match, 57-14. Those taking first place were Christian Moller, Clayton Juhl, Lane Wishart, Isaiah Steitz, Jayden Lewis, Jaycee Kane, Tripp Koshiol, Thomas Rogers, Austin McRunnels and Dyllon Kimsey. Those lifting to second-place honors were Rogers, Reed Wilgers, Sean Hulsman, Aidan Fedigan and Ahmad Knaio.