Education Archive

Gulf Pointe Latin School recently became the first Florida K-12 school to be designated a Steinway Select School. There are just 21 schools recognized by Steinway & Sons in the U.S.

To receive the designation, the school had to have a Steinway piano on a performance stage and two additional Steinway pianos on campus.

What many West Navarre Intermediate School students thought was a presentation about fishing turned into a coronation for one youth Wednesday, Nov. 4.

Lilyanne Fine, 10, was among the crowd watching and listening to a PowerPoint presentation from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on fishing competitions when she saw a picture of herself in the PowerPoint.

Nearly 90 years after Amelia Earhart disappeared while attempting to fly around the world, the mystery of what happened to the pioneering aviator continues to draw researchers to some of the most remote places on Earth.

For William Wilson, a University of West Florida maritime archaeologist and faculty research associate, the opportunity to investigate one of those places firsthand meant traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to search for evidence of Earhart’s missing aircraft.

For Holley-Navarre Middle School’s teacher of the year, teaching is a family tradition.

Katie Fein, the school’s physical education teacher, is the daughter of former Gulf Breeze PE coach Tom Aldridge and Gulf Breeze Elementary ESE/Gifted teacher Kim Coley. A University of West Florida graduate, Fein has been teaching for 10 years. Eight of those years have come at HNMS.

Heather Owens is in her 22nd year as a teacher at Woodlawn Beach Middle School.

And for the first time, she is the school’s teacher of the year, though she has been nominated for the honor several times in the past.

Emily Simon is esteemed to be the West Navarre Primary School teacher of the year. Or is it e-STEAM-ed?

Simon, who has been teaching since 2010, is the science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics teacher for her school. The class is a special course, similar to art, music and physical education.

Hurricane Isaias threw Santa Rosa County into a tailspin.

Between efforts to restore power, remove debris and reopen roads, bringing children back to school was not the top priority. Despite initial plans to open schools again Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Santa Rosa County School Board voted instead to reopen Monday, Oct. 19.

The state standards for science education are undergoing a rewrite.

Florida’s current Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science were adopted by the State Board of Education in February 2008. The current framework is structured around earth and space science, physical science, life science and the nature of science, namely the role of theories and laws in scientific understanding.

Emily McCallum has been leading a classroom for five years. It will be six years in January.

The third-grade teacher was recently named Oriole Beach Elementary School’s teacher of the year. This is her first time holding that title.

Santa Rosa County was back in the classroom Monday, Oct. 19, marking the first time since Wednesday, Oct. 7, that school had been held in the district.

Santa Rosa County District Schools report that student attendance across 36 campuses reached 93.7 percent on the first day back following Hurricane Isaias.