FLAGLER COUNTY SCHOOLS School year closes with honors, awards, competitions

Jason Wheeler, Community Information Specialist, Flagler County Schools
·4 min read

The 2021-2022 School Year comes to an end this week. Flagler Schools wants to thank all the students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents and volunteers who all contributed to making the school year such a success. We look forward to sharing the great news happening on our campuses with everyone once the 2022-2023 school year begins on August 10. We congratulate our graduates (who get their diplomas Saturday, May 28, at the Ocean Center) and wish them all the best as they move on to college, military service or a new career. We also hope everyone else has a relaxing summer.

Before we bring these updates to an end, let’s check at what our campuses were up to as the calendar came to a close.

Matanzas High School award recipients: Citizenship Award Winner Tori Phillips, Principal’s Award Winner Tate Winecoff, Pirate Award Winner Alyssa Sa, and Scholarship Award Winner Karissa Jackson.
Matanzas High School award recipients: Citizenship Award Winner Tori Phillips, Principal’s Award Winner Tate Winecoff, Pirate Award Winner Alyssa Sa, and Scholarship Award Winner Karissa Jackson.

Matanzas High School

We are proud to honor this year’s Wall of Fame students. We continued this tradition of highlighting some of the best and brightest students on our campus. Congratulations to Citizenship Award Winner Tori Phillips, Principal’s Award Winner Tate Winecoff, Pirate Award Winner Alyssa Sa, and Scholarship Award Winner Karissa Jackson. You’ll see these photos in the MHS lobby for the next year.

The Matanzas HS Student Government Association gifted a “Stairway to Success” to the school.
The Matanzas HS Student Government Association gifted a “Stairway to Success” to the school.

Also, the seniors with our Student Government Association left their mark on our campus. Literally. They gifted a “Stairway to Success” to their school. We also thank Marisa Pereira for the work in designing and installing the staircase.

Rymfire Elementary School

School may be winding down, but the Sunshine State Young Readers Award reading celebrations at Rymfire Elementary School have not. The week of May 16-20 was an opportunity for RES to celebrate the readers participating in this year's program. Throughout the year hundreds of students read SSYRA books. This week each grade level band -- K-2, 3-5 and grade 6 -- got to have some fun and show pride in their efforts as readers. Grade 6 had a Battle of the Books and the winning team was (drumroll)... Jocelyn Vitkauskas (Captain), Kayla Hek and Paris Milton. Congratulations! Students in grades 3-5 enjoyed having a “let's celebrate our great reading game” party full of fun. Students in grades K-2 had more than 60 students that got to participate in their own battle of the books.

The excitement was astounding and throughout the tournament, we cheered on all of these awesome readers whether they would be on the final winning teams or not. The competition was neck-and-neck the entire way, which produced a first-place team, five teams tied for second, and two tied for third place. Each team was a mixture of students from different grade levels. We congratulate all students and are so happy they could shine and show their literacy skills. The first-place team went to Jesus Alvarez, Cecelia Dorozsay and Avalyn Platt. RES, and Ms. Tahan the school Media Specialist especially, could not be happier to have had such a successful year in helping our readers shine.

Buddy Taylor Middle School

It’s always a great day in the district with the BTMS culinary students hold a competition and asks for judges. This time around, Mrs. Jerrell’s students held a Cookie Food Truck competition. Personnel from across the district came to BTMS to judge. We think EVERYONE came out a winner.

We also congratulate Mallory Blackburn and Landon Bushnoe. They were awarded the Good Citizenship Award from the Sons of the American Revolution. We thank Mallory and Landon for always modeling our BTMS Expectations!

Some Buddy Taylor Middle School teachers received the “Best Bubbler Award” for making sure the testing materials were organized and correct during the recent testing season.
Some Buddy Taylor Middle School teachers received the “Best Bubbler Award” for making sure the testing materials were organized and correct during the recent testing season.

Finally, we took some time to award some of our teachers the “Best Bubbler Award” for the recent testing season. These teachers worked hard to make sure their testing materials were organized and correct.

Belle Terre Elementary School

It’s only natural to tell kids not to play with their food. But a group of fourth-grade students at Belle Terre Elementary School was encouraged to do just that. But it was for a good reason. They were competing in the STEM Olympics. One challenge was to build objects with potato crisps. Another was to use marshmallows to connect sticks and make different shapes. The students did a great job.

Mrs. Blank’s second-graders learned about the different parts of a computer in Technology. But to make sure they knew what they were talking about, the students had the opportunity to draw their own guides. We think they did a great job and are well on their way to mastering computer technology in the years ahead.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Flagler County school year closes with honors, awards, competitions